Visual demonstration of program execution

Abstract

This paper describes a system which provide s a visual demonstration of the structure and flo w of an ALGOL program . The program is displayed o n a CRT and executed interpretively, highlightin g each statement prior to execution and showing th e result of the statement after execution . Th e primary use of the system is to demonstrat e program operation in a classroom environment . I t has also been used as an automatic benchcheckin g aid .Introductio n

An animated instructional model for Ada tasking

“…The BALSA system has been in production use by over 450 students and a dozen researchers since September 1983. Since both these systems were still under development at the time these papers were written [7,16], the conclusions were tentative. It was, however clear that both learners and teachers reacted favorably to these systems.…”

“…All of these must be attended to carefully if the learning process is to be enhanced by the proposed animated tasking model. One such learning environment was described by Kline et al [16].…”

“…By animating this dynamic process and by relating this animation directly to Ada code, it is felt that students will gain a quicker, more complete and lasting understanding of the concepts of task interaction. A similar approach has been used successfully by Kline, et al [ 16] in a study involving the execution of a single sequential process. supporting technology which has only recently become readily available.…”