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Lack of Keyboard Support Cripples Block-Based Programming

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference paperpeer-review

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationBlocks and Beyond 2015
PublisherIEEE
Number of pages3
Published22 Oct 2015

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Abstract

Block-based programming is very popular with beginners, but it has failed to gain traction among intermediate and expert programmers. The mouse-centric interfaces typically found in block-based programming environments make edit interactions (especially in large programs) tedious and awkward. We propose that adding keyboard support is a key step to extending the applicability of block-based programming ideas and would allow their use by intermediate and expert programmers, extending some of their benefits to new user groups. We describe an implementation of this idea, `frame-based programming', which leads to a number of benefits in error avoidance and edit efficiency.

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