Visual Tracing System for Novice Programmers of Java Applets Using Aspect-Oriented Programming

The present paper describes the design of a visual tracing system that helps novice programmers of Java applets to acquire the capability of tracing source programs. Java applets are user-friendly because they have a graphical user interface (GUI). For this reason, Java applets are often used in learning programming. However, for novice programmers using Java applets, it is difficult to trace execution methods, which are driven by events, such as clicking on a GUI button, and the source code itself. In order to address this problem, we introduce a design for a visual tracing system. Furthermore, we propose a method by which to alter the functions of the system according to the skill level of the individual learner using aspect-oriented programming.