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Programming in Game Space: How to Represent Parallel Programming Concepts in an Educational Game
Conference proceeding

Programming in Game Space: How to Represent Parallel Programming Concepts in an Educational Game

Jichen Zhu, Katelyn Alderfer, Anushay Furqan, Jessica Nebolsky, Bruce Char, Brian Smith, Jennifer Villareale and Santiago Ontanon
PROCEEDINGS OF THE 14TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE FOUNDATIONS OF DIGITAL GAMES (FDG'19)
01 Jan 2019

Abstract

Computer Science Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence Computer Science, Cybernetics Computer Science, Interdisciplinary Applications Computer Science, Software Engineering Science & Technology Technology
Concurrent and parallel programming (CPP) skills are increasingly important in today's world of parallel hardware. However, the conceptual leap from deterministic sequential programming to CPP is notoriously challenging to make. Our educational game Parallel is designed to support the learning of CPP core concepts through a game-based learning approach, focusing on the connection between gameplay and CPP. Through a 10-week user study (n 25) in an undergraduate concurrent programming course, the first empirical study for a CPP educational game, our results show that Parallel offers both CPP knowledge and student engagement. Furthermore, we provide a new framework to describe the design space for programming games in general.

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18 citations in Scopus

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Web of Science research areas
Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence
Computer Science, Cybernetics
Computer Science, Interdisciplinary Applications
Computer Science, Software Engineering
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