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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.