Which pointer errors do students make?

Authors:
Bruce Adcock;Paolo Bucci;Wayne D. Heym;Joseph E. Hollingsworth;Timothy Long;Bruce W. Weide
Affiliations:
The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH;The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH;The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH;Indiana University Southeast, New Albany, IN;The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH;The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
Venue:
Proceedings of the 38th SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education
Year:
2007

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Abstract

A model and a taxonomy to characterize pointer manipulations are introduced, along with an instrumentation technology that leverages them to provide students with immediate reports of pointer errors in C++ programs. Data collected from CS2 student assignments show that the vast majority of student pointer errors either would not have been noticed at all, or would have been detected only much later in execution, if this infrastructure were not used. Possible applications of the underlying technology--both to conduct long-term educational research into students' understanding of pointers, and to improve pedagogy directly--are discussed.