Analisando erros cometidos por iniciantes em programação orientada a objetos no Curso de Ciência da Computação da UFCG.

Abstract

Introductory programming courses are often challenging, especially for those with no prior experience in programming logic. When entering a technology course, it is necessary to learn terminologies related to Computer Science and adapt to different concepts and paradigms. When it comes to Object Oriented Programming (OOP), using Java as a programming language, the difficulty is even greater. Its broad set of concepts and its verbose syntax make part of a challenging transition, followed by errors regarding the concepts learned, often reflecting the student permanence on the course. Therefore, with the aim of comprehending and analyzing these errors, this work proposes to follow the same steps as a previous study conducted in a Programming Laboratory II class in the Computer Science course at Universidade Federal de Campina Grande. The difficulty in assimilating Java concepts results in the discovery of errors in practical activities and tests, as demonstrated by the aforementioned study, which primarily analyzed the volume of code from student submissions. The intention is to compare the results, investigating patterns and tendencies that may vary with changes in the sample. Once identifying such errors as well as their frequency and overall impact on the student grades, this study can contribute to potential adaptations in the teaching methods so that there is a better approach to solving these problems, strengthening the understanding of the fundamental concepts of Object Oriented Programming, as it is recurrent in other classes on the curriculum.