Making Memory Transparent: Design of a Novice Programming Environment for C

Advances in modern novice programming environments (NPEs) have made computer programming more accessible to an increasingly large audience. Unfortunately, 35 percent of the top 125 U.S. universities use C or C++, both of which are widely considered to be challenging for novices because they require one to have a firm understanding of computer memory. To make C and C++ more accessible to introductory programming students at these universities, we are developing TransparenC, a NPE that integrates two key advances in modern NPEs-direct manipulation programming and data visualization.