Stelios Xinogalos

A comparative analysis of cross-platform development approaches for mobile applications

Nowadays, native mobile applications (mobile apps) are targeted at specific mobile platforms. This phenomenon imposes severe constraints, such as the use of different development environments, technologies, and APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) for each mobile platform, leading inevitably to a waste of development time and effort, and an increased maintenance cost. The paper focuses on the current trends in developing cross-platform mobile apps. Our analysis focuses primarily on three areas. In the first place, we clarify the cross-platform development landscape by exploring the most important cross-platform app types, which are web, hybrid, interpreted and generated apps. Secondly, key issues for each app type are presented and a comparative analysis is performed to highlight the advantages and disadvantages of each type. Thirdly, taking into account the current status in cross-platform mobile app development we identify a promising cross-platform app type and we investigate its effectiveness in practice. Finally, we draw some conclusions regarding cross-platform mobile app development approaches and make proposals for further research on the field.

Recent advances delivered by HTML 5 in mobile cloud computing applications: a survey

With the explosive growth of the mobile applications and emerging of Cloud Computing (CC) concept, Mobile Cloud Computing (MCC) has been introduced to be a potential technology for mobile services. MCC refers to an infrastructure where both the data storage and the data processing happen outside of the mobile device. One of the technologies that will advance MCC is the latest version of the Webs markup language, HTML 5. In this paper, we present a survey of new HTML 5 features with a focus on the enhancement of the current MCC limitations. Specifically, we present the most important features of HTML 5 organized in different categories and their contribution in the deployment of MCC applications. Finally, the results of the research carried out on evaluating HTML 5 in terms of a wide range of applications and specifications are reviewed.

Object-Oriented Design and Programming: An Investigation of Novices’ Conceptions on Objects and Classes

The Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) technique is nowadays the most popular programming technique among tertiary education institutions. However, learning OOP is a cognitively demanding task for undergraduate students. Several difficulties and misconceptions have been recorded in the literature for both OOP concepts and languages, mainly Java. This article focuses on reviewing and advancing research on the most fundamental OOP concepts, namely, the concepts of “object” and “class” and their role during program execution. The results of a long-term investigation on the subject are presented, focusing on a study exploring undergraduate students’ conceptions on “objects” and “classes.” The study advances related research on categories of conceptions on “objects” and “classes” by providing quantitative results, in addition to qualitative results, regarding the frequency of the recorded conceptions. Nearly half the students seem to comprehend the modeling and static/dynamic aspects of the concepts “object” and “class.” Implications for achieving a deep conceptual understanding of text, action, and modeling aspects of these fundamental concepts are also discussed. Information regarding the programming environments utilized in the course and key features of the applied teaching approach are presented, in order to facilitate both a better understanding of the context and a better employment of the results of the presented study. Finally, proposals for enhancing the contribution of this and similar studies are made.

Towards a new massive multiplayer online role playing game for introductory programming

Successful computer programming education is facing significant problems even nowadays for both students and teachers. To this end, the specificities of those difficulties and the corresponding causes continue to be an ongoing topic of research. According to relevant case studies, these relate to the complex concepts of computer programming as well as the lack of motivation by students to achieve the given goals. On the other hand, the emerging field of Games Based Learning is gradually delivering games that are applied in a series of educational contexts. In this paper, we aim to initially investigate the educational games developed for and used in the computer programming domain and review to which level they address the aforementioned difficulties. Related work includes a number of games that have been developed towards this goal. However, even though they seem promising examples, they lack features that would allow them to successfully underpin computer programming learning by facing the majority of the identified problems. To this end, we propose a new, advanced Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) that includes the facilitating and positive features identified in existing solutions and incorporates missing elements that will bring forth a new generation of educational games for introductory computer programming.

Convergence of Internet of things and mobile cloud computing

As an integral element of future Internet, Internet of things (IoT) could be described as a real-world interaction with everything connected via intelligent network infrastructure and advanced communication technologies. Mobile cloud computing (MCC), on the other hand, offers an infrastructure wherein both data storage and data processing take place outside of the mobile device. As a more mature infrastructure, MCC offers several advantages, while the relatively new IoT has several limitations. In this paper, we present a survey of IoT limitations and MCC advantages. Specifically, we present the most advantageous aspects of MCC and how they alleviate the limitations of IoT. Furthermore, we discuss several IoT-enabled business services to highlight the benefits of converging IoT and MCC.

Using flowchart-based programming environments for simplifying programming and software engineering processes

Programming environments based on an iconic, flowchart-based notation have been widely used in the context of introducing novices to programming. These tools were initially heavily based on the technology of structure editing, with the aim of alleviating the burden of focusing on the syntactic details of programming languages and giving the chance to focus on acquiring problem solving skills. The technology of program animation was also utilized, in order to allow for a better comprehension of programming structures and flow of control. Furthermore, the ability of generating syntactically correct source code from the flowchart was integrated into these tools. Recently, several advanced features were added in flowchart-based programming environments, such as support for collaborative activities and distributed pair programming and usage in mobile devices. In this paper, a thorough review of programming environments based on an iconic notation is carried out with a focus on the support provided for introducing novices to programming, as well as other important software engineering issues in a simplified and straightforward manner. Proposals for research on this field and opportunities for a better teaching and learning of software engineering are presented.

Re-designing an OOP course based on BlueJ

In this paper we present our findings on teaching Object Oriented Programming (OOP) with BlueJ in the context of a one-semester programming course. Specifically, we present the evolution of the course, results from its evaluation and proposals for a more effective teaching of OOP. Our proposals focus on the way that the features of BlueJ, the accompanying textbook and the well-known guidelines for teaching object orientation with Java presented by the team of BlueJ should be used, in order to avoid some underlying pitfalls.

Evaluating the Effects of Scripted Distributed Pair Programming on Student Performance and Participation

The results presented in this paper contribute to research on two different areas of teaching methods: distributed pair programming (DPP) and computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL). An evaluation study of a DPP system that supports collaboration scripts was conducted over one semester of a computer science course. Seventy-four students participated in the study and used the DPP model to solve programming assignments in pairs, rather than individually. Students were divided into two cohorts in order to examine how best to distribute programming tasks to students, to maximize learning outcomes. The results suggest that while the use of DPP improves pass rates and gets positive feedback from students, the use of collaboration scripts yields equal task contributions from each of the student pair. For a small number of students, overall performance was improved by the adaptive assignment of programming activities, designed to engage students equally in diverse roles and activities.

Designing and deploying programming courses: Strategies, tools, difficulties and pedagogy

Designing and deploying programming courses is undoubtedly a challenging task. In this paper, an attempt to analyze important aspects of a sequence of two courses on imperative-procedural and object-oriented programming in a non-CS majors Department is made. This analysis is based on a questionnaire filled in by fifty students in a voluntary basis. The issues of the programming courses that are investigated refer to: the strategy selected for the introduction to programming; the sequence of the programming techniques and languages taught and the transition from the one to the other; students’ difficulties with programming in general and with imperative-procedural and object-oriented programming in specific; the teaching and learning design of both courses; and the material that students rely on for learning programming. Based on the analysis of students’ replies on the questionnaire, related work and the instructor’s experience on teaching the courses, conclusions are drawn regarding all the aforementioned aspects of designing and deploying programming courses. The main contribution of the paper is the fact that all the important and interrelated aspects of a sequence of two programming courses are investigated in conjunction, providing realistic implications and guidelines for improving the quality and effectiveness of existing programming courses and designing and deploying new courses. The main results refer to the usage of a pseudo-language for an introduction to programming, the transition from procedural to object-oriented programming, the intrinsic difficulties of learning programming, and practices for a more successful teaching and learning design of programming courses.

CMX: The Effects of an Educational MMORPG on Learning and Teaching Computer Programming

Computer programming has for decades posed several difficulties for students of all educational levels. A number of teaching approaches have been proposed over the years but none seems to fulfil the needs of students nowadays. Students use computers mainly for playing games and the Internet and as quite a few researchers state this aspect of computers should be taken into account in the way we educate them. Towards this direction, this paper aims to examine the effects of using an educational Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) on teaching and learning computer programming. The educational features of an MMORPG called CMX are presented along with a design framework that was devised taking into account previous work in designing educational games. The effects of CMX on teaching and learning computer programming are assessed through a study with first-year undergraduate students. Seventy six students used CMX over a period of five weeks for learning various procedural programming concepts. Students evaluated various aspects of CMX by filling in a questionnaire that was based on an evaluation framework, which was devised in accordance with the design framework of CMX. Moreover, the results of a midterm exam that took place prior to using CMX and students’ accomplishments in the context of CMX were recorded and analyzed. The results show that the majority of the students was entertained by playing the game while learning, and felt motivated to continue based on the games scenario due to the variety of activities included. In regards to the students’ performance, a pre-test and a post-test were carried out in the experimental group, i.e., the participants of this study, and the control group, i.e., students of the course that continued to get taught the same concepts and performed the same assignments as the experimental group, but traditionally. The pre-test and post-test analysis of the performance results for both groups showed that the majority of the students in the experimental group increased their performance in computer programming. Furthermore, students stated they had a positive attitude in regards to re-using CMX in the future in order to learn additional programming concepts. The positive results of this study pave the way for CMX being used in the classroom and expanding the games functionalities that will further increase students’ performance and support teachers in delivering the required knowledge. Moreover, the work reported in this paper offers game designers and teachers methodological and empirical results for game-based learning in such a difficult domain as is computer programming. What is more, the design and evaluation frameworks presented are general enough that they can be easily adjusted and/or extended for designing and assessing educational games in other domains as well.