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To advance Java programming educations, the authors have developed a Java Programming Learning Assistant System (JPLAS) as a web application system. JPLAS provides fill-in-blank problems for novices to study the grammar and basic programming skills through code reading.

To select the blank elements with grammatically correct and unique answers from a given Java code, the authors have proposed the graph-based blank element selection algorithm. Then, the code for this problem should be highly readable to encourage novice students to study it. Because code readability can be improved by proper names for identifiers, the authors have also proposed the naming rule testing algorithm to identify codes with correct names.

In this paper, the authors present a fill-in-blank problem workbook by collecting suitable Java codes from textbooks and Web sites and applying these algorithms with several extensions. The workbook consists of 16 categories with a considerable number of problems that follow the conventional learning order of Java programming.

The proper set of ready-made fill-in-blank problems is effective in enhancing the usability of JPLAS both for teachers and students. For the preliminary evaluation, the authors assign a few problems to students. In coming semesters, the authors will use this workbook in the course to verify the adequacy of the proposal for novices.

To advance Java programming educations, the authors have developed a Web-based Java programming learning assistant system (JPLAS). It offers the element fill-in-blank problem (EFP) for novice students to study Java grammar and basic programming skills by filling in the missing elements in a source code. An EFP instance can be generated by selecting an appropriate code, and applying the blank element selection algorithm. As it is expected to cover broad grammar topics, a number of EFP instances have been generated. This paper aims to propose a recommendation function to guide a student solving the proper EFP instances among them.

This function considers the difficulty level of the EFP instance and the grammar topics that have been correctly answered by the student, and is implemented at the offline answering function of JPLAS using JavaScript so that students can use it even without the Internet connections.

To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposal, 85 EFP instances are prepared to cover various grammar topics, and are assigned to a total of 92 students in two universities in Myanmar and Indonesia to solve them using the recommendation function. Their solution results confirmed the effectiveness of the proposal.

The concept of the difficulty level for an EFP instance is newly defined for the proper recommendation, and the accuracy in terms of the average numbers of answer submission times among the students is verified.

For several decades, calligraphy has been popular among people in Japan, China, and even in the world. Traditionally, a teacher teaches how to write letters on a paper with a brush, and a student will imitate them by referring to the model letters. However, if a teacher is not available, this method will not be applicable either. This study aims to propose a calligraphy learning assistant system (CLAS) using projection mapping, which allows a student to learn calligraphy by him/herself.

By following the letter writing video of a teacher that is directly projected on the paper, a student is able to learn the stroke order and writing speed in addition to the letter shape. Moreover, the letter portion practice function is incorporated in CLAS to allow a learner to repeat practicing hard portions of each letter.

For evaluations, the authors implemented CLAS using Raspberry Pi and open-source software and asked students to use it. The results confirmed that CLAS is effective in improving calligraphy skills of novice students.

With CLAS, a student can practice calligraphy using a conventional brush, ink and paper at a desk while looking at the model letter writing of a teacher projected on the paper using projection mapping.

With rapid increase of Android devices and application systems, there is a strong demand for Android application programmers. A lot of schools are offering Android programming courses to meet this demand. However, Android programming can be different from the conventional one because it needs interactive functions through interfaces with users, which makes the study more difficult. This paper aims to propose an Android Programming Learning Assistance System, namely, APLAS, to assist the Java-based Android programming study and education.

By adopting the test-driven development method, APLAS is designed to achieve independent learning without the presence of teachers. Using JUnit and Robolectric, the answers from the students are automatically marked in APLAS. To cover extensive materials in Android programming, APLAS offers four stages where each stage involves several topics.

To evaluate the effectiveness of APLAS, we implemented the Unit Converter assignment that covers the first two topics, namely, Basic user interface in the first stage and basic activity in the second stage. Through solving the assignment, it is expected to learn basic application development. Forty novice students of an IT department in Indonesia were asked to solve both topics separately.

The results show that APLAS is useful and helpful for the self-study of Android programming, as they could complete codes with good execution performances.

This study aims to present the value trace problem (VTP) for Python programming self-study, by extending the works for Java programming learning assistant system. In total, 130 VTP instances are generated using Python codes in textbooks and websites that cover basic/advanced grammar topics, fundamental data structures and algorithms and two common library usages. Besides, assisting references on Python programming topics related to the VTP instances are introduced to assist novice learners in solving them efficiently.

PyPLAS offers the VTP to study grammar topics and library usage through code reading. A VTP instance asks a learner to trace the actual values of important variables or output messages in the given source code. The correctness of any answer is checked through string matching.

The applications to 48 undergraduate students in Myanmar and Indonesia confirm the validity of the proposal in Python programming self-studies by novice learners.

The applications to 48 undergraduate students in Myanmar and Indonesia confirm the validity of the proposal in Python programming self-studies by novice learners.