Background and Context: Feedback on one's progress is essential to new programming language learners, particularly in out-of-classroom settings. Though many study materials offer assessment mechanisms, most do not examine the accuracy of the feedback they deliver, nor give evidence on its validity. Objective: We investigate the potential use of a…

Background and context: Transfer is a process where students apply their learning to different contexts. This process includes using their knowledge to solve problems with similar complexity, and in new contexts. In the context of programming, transfer also includes being able to understand and use different programming languages. Objective: This…

In this paper, we present the results from a two-part study. We analyze 60 programs written by novice programmers aged 16-19 after their first programming course, in either Java or Python. The aim is to find difficulties independent of the language used, and such originating from the language. Second, we analyze the transition from a…