Using Large Language Models to Enhance Programming Error MessagesIn-PersonGlobal
A key part of learning to program is learning to understand programming error messages. They can be hard to interpret and identifying the cause of the errors can be time-consuming. One of the challenges of interpreting programming error messages is that the messages are typically intended for an audience that already knows how to program, or even for programming environments that then use the information to highlight areas in code. Thus, it is not surprising that researchers have been working on making these errors more novice friendly since the 1960s. The present work contributes to this stream of research by using large language models to enhance programming error messages with explanations of the errors and suggestions on how to fix the error. Large language models can be used to create useful and novice-friendly enhancements to programming error messages that sometimes surpass the original programming error messages in interpretability and actionability. These results provide further evidence of the benefits of large language models for computing educators, highlighting their use in areas known to be challenging for students. We further discuss the benefits and downsides of large language models and highlight future streams of research for enhancing programming error messages.
Fri 17 MarDisplayed time zone: Eastern Time (US & Canada) change
10:45 - 12:00 | Understanding Programming Error MessagesPapers at 701A Chair(s): Christopher Moretti Princeton University, USA | ||
10:45 25mPaper | First Steps Towards Predicting the Readability of Programming Error MessagesIn-PersonGlobal Papers James Prather Abilene Christian University, Paul Denny The University of Auckland, Brett Becker University College Dublin, Robert Nix Oklahoma Christian University, Brent Reeves Abilene Christian University, Arisoa Randrianasolo Abilene Christian University, Garrett Powell Abilene Christian University DOI | ||
11:10 25mPaper | Scaffolding Progress: How Structured Editors Shape Novice Errors When Transitioning from Blocks to TextIn-PersonGlobal Papers Majeed Kazemitabaar Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto, Viktar Chyhir Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto, David Weintrop University of Maryland, Tovi Grossman University of Toronto DOI | ||
11:35 25mPaper | Using Large Language Models to Enhance Programming Error MessagesIn-PersonGlobal Papers Juho Leinonen The University of Auckland, Arto Hellas Aalto University, Sami Sarsa Aalto University, Brent Reeves Abilene Christian University, Paul Denny The University of Auckland, James Prather Abilene Christian University, Brett Becker University College Dublin DOI |