Analysis of the Programming Languages Preferred by Novice Programmers for Solving Programming Problem

Md. Faizul Ibne Amin, Md. Mostafizer Rahman, Atsushi Shirafuji, Yutaka Watanobe

Abstract: In ICT education, most of the courses particularly those focused on programming, are designed to enhance computational and practical skills. However, the selection of appropriate programming languages holds great significance for novice programmers embarking on their journey of learning programming. This paper presents a comprehensive analysis utilizing real-world data to gain insights into the prevalent trends in programming language selection for problem-solving among novice programmers. The study leverages solution submission logs from an online judge (OJ) system, employed as an educational tool within an introductory programming course. The analysis specifically focuses on topic #1 consists of four problems of this course. Our investigation revolves around programmers’ first attempts to solve these problems, taking into account the programming languages they employ. The findings of our detailed statistical analysis shed light on the preferred programming languages used by programmers to tackle these problems. These insights not only aid fledgling novice programmers in making informed decisions when selecting a programming language, but also offer educators, instructors, and academic institutions valuable information for curating programming language choices within introductory programming courses.