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NEWTJAVA : LEARNING BASIC ALGORITHMIC PRINCIPLES WITHOUT PAIN

In this paper we introduce NewtJava, a tool we have recently developed for the teaching and learning of basic algorithmic principles, to be used by students without previous experience in programming. For many years now, university teachers of courses on programming have been complaining about their student’s bad performance when learning elementary programming concepts. Students manifest serious difficulties for the understanding and use of basic flow control structures in programs, the assimilation of data types and the decomposition of simple problems into computer-oriented instructions sequences, for instance. In response to these problems we have develop a teaching software tool that combines the three fundamental characteristics of the programming practice into an easy to use interface: abstract (algorithmic) thinking, language independent implementation and dynamic behaviour observation. And this without involving the intricacies of a programming language. As explained in the following paper, the potentialities of this tool and its pedagogical grounds are immense.