User profiles for Ray Pettit

Raymond Pettit

Associate Professor of Computer Science, University of Virginia
Verified email at virginia.edu
Cited by 830

Compiler error messages considered unhelpful: The landscape of text-based programming error message research

BA Becker, P Denny, R Pettit, D Bouchard… - Proceedings of the …, 2019 - dl.acm.org
Diagnostic messages generated by compilers and interpreters such as syntax error messages
have been researched for over half of a century. Unfortunately, these messages which …

The robots are here: Navigating the generative ai revolution in computing education

…, S MacNeil, A Petersen, R Pettit… - Proceedings of the …, 2023 - dl.acm.org
Recent advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and specifically generative AI (GenAI) are
threatening to fundamentally reshape computing and society. Largely driven by large …

Metacognition and self-regulation in programming education: Theories and exemplars of use

…, BA Becker, M Craig, P Denny, R Pettit… - ACM Transactions on …, 2022 - dl.acm.org
Metacognition and self-regulation are important skills for successful learning and have been
discussed and researched extensively in the general education literature for several …

Metacognitive difficulties faced by novice programmers in automated assessment tools

J Prather, R Pettit, K McMurry, A Peters… - Proceedings of the …, 2018 - dl.acm.org
Most novice programmers are not explicitly aware of the problem-solving process used to
approach programming problems and cannot articulate to an instructor where they are in that …

First things first: Providing metacognitive scaffolding for interpreting problem prompts

J Prather, R Pettit, BA Becker, P Denny… - Proceedings of the 50th …, 2019 - dl.acm.org
When solving programming problems, novices are often not aware of where they are in the
problem-solving process. For instance, students who misinterpret the problem prompt will …

Do Enhanced Compiler Error Messages Help Students? Results Inconclusive.

RS Pettit, J Homer, R Gee - Proceedings of the 2017 ACM SIGCSE …, 2017 - dl.acm.org
One common frustration students face when first learning to program in a compiled language
is the difficulty in interpreting the compiler error messages they receive. Attempts to …

On novices' interaction with compiler error messages: A human factors approach

J Prather, R Pettit, KH McMurry, A Peters… - Proceedings of the …, 2017 - dl.acm.org
The difficulty in understanding compiler error messages can be a major impediment to
novice student learning. To alleviate this issue, multiple researchers have run experiments …

An empirical study of iterative improvement in programming assignments

R Pettit, J Homer, R Gee, S Mengel… - Proceedings of the 46th …, 2015 - dl.acm.org
As automated tools for grading programming assignments become more widely used, it is
imperative that we better understand how students are utilizing them. Other researchers have …

A closer look at metacognitive scaffolding: Solving test cases before programming

…, BA Becker, Z Albrecht, D Loksa, R Pettit - Proceedings of the 19th …, 2019 - dl.acm.org
Prior research has shown that novices face metacognitive difficulties associated with
understanding problem statements. Metacognition refers to the processes that an individual uses to …

Are automated assessment tools helpful in programming courses?

RS Pettit, JD Homer, KM McMurry… - 2015 ASEE Annual …, 2015 - peer.asee.org
Raymond S. Pettit teaches courses in programming, artificial intelligence, objected
oriented design, algorithms, theory of computation, and related subjects in ACU’s School of …