Code quality is a critical aspect of programming, as high-quality code is easier to maintain, and code maintenance constitutes the majority of software costs. Consequently, code quality should be emphasized in programming education. While previous research has identified numerous code quality defects commonly made by students, the current state…

Query languages are the foundations of database teaching and education practices. The broad adoption of graph databases contrasts with the limited research into how they are taught. Contrary to relational databases, graph databases allow navigational queries with higher expressivity and lack an a priori schema. In this article, we design a…

Although ample research has focused on computing skill development over a single course or specific programming language, relatively little attention is paid to how computing skills evolve across a program. Our work aims to understand how specific skills develop throughout a progression of CS courses. We use qualitative content analysis to catalog…

SQL compiler error messages are the primary way users receive feedback when they encounter syntax errors or other issues in their SQL queries. Effective error messages can enhance the user experience by providing clear, informative, and actionable feedback. Despite the age of SQL compilers, it still remains largely unclear what contributes to an…

Regular expressions (REs) are often taught to undergraduate computer science majors in the Formal Languages and Automata (FLA) course; they are widely used to implement different software functionalities such as search mechanisms and data validation in diverse fields. Despite their importance, the difficulty of REs has been asserted many times in…