36,286 research outputs found

    Contemporary developments in teaching and learning introductory programming: Towards a research proposal

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    The teaching and learning of introductory programming in tertiary institutions is problematic. Failure rates are high and the inability of students to complete small programming tasks at the completion of introductory units is not unusual. The literature on teaching programming contains many examples of changes in teaching strategies and curricula that have been implemented in an effort to reduce failure rates. This paper analyses contemporary research into the area, and summarises developments in the teaching of introductory programming. It also focuses on areas for future research which will potentially lead to improvements in both the teaching and learning of introductory programming. A graphical representation of the issues from the literature that are covered in the document is provided in the introduction

    Bilayer Low-Density Parity-Check Codes for Decode-and-Forward in Relay Channels

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    This paper describes an efficient implementation of binning for the relay channel using low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes. We devise bilayer LDPC codes to approach the theoretically promised rate of the decode-and-forward relaying strategy by incorporating relay-generated information bits in specially designed bilayer graphical code structures. While conventional LDPC codes are sensitively tuned to operate efficiently at a certain channel parameter, the proposed bilayer LDPC codes are capable of working at two different channel parameters and two different rates: that at the relay and at the destination. To analyze the performance of bilayer LDPC codes, bilayer density evolution is devised as an extension of the standard density evolution algorithm. Based on bilayer density evolution, a design methodology is developed for the bilayer codes in which the degree distribution is iteratively improved using linear programming. Further, in order to approach the theoretical decode-and-forward rate for a wide range of channel parameters, this paper proposes two different forms bilayer codes, the bilayer-expurgated and bilayer-lengthened codes. It is demonstrated that a properly designed bilayer LDPC code can achieve an asymptotic infinite-length threshold within 0.24 dB gap to the Shannon limits of two different channels simultaneously for a wide range of channel parameters. By practical code construction, finite-length bilayer codes are shown to be able to approach within a 0.6 dB gap to the theoretical decode-and-forward rate of the relay channel at a block length of 10510^5 and a bit-error probability (BER) of 10410^{-4}. Finally, it is demonstrated that a generalized version of the proposed bilayer code construction is applicable to relay networks with multiple relays.Comment: Submitted to IEEE Trans. Info. Theor

    Introductory programming: a systematic literature review

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    As computing becomes a mainstream discipline embedded in the school curriculum and acts as an enabler for an increasing range of academic disciplines in higher education, the literature on introductory programming is growing. Although there have been several reviews that focus on specific aspects of introductory programming, there has been no broad overview of the literature exploring recent trends across the breadth of introductory programming. This paper is the report of an ITiCSE working group that conducted a systematic review in order to gain an overview of the introductory programming literature. Partitioning the literature into papers addressing the student, teaching, the curriculum, and assessment, we explore trends, highlight advances in knowledge over the past 15 years, and indicate possible directions for future research
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