DCC Sidekick: Helping Novices Solve Programming Errors Through a Conversational Explanation Interface

Students in introductory computing courses often lack the experience required to effectively identify and resolve errors in their code. For such students, Programming Error Messages (PEMs) are often the first indication of an error, and could provide valuable debugging guidance. However, in many cases, such as with standard C compiler implementations, PEMs are largely unsuitable for novices. Confusing, misleading, and filled with terse language and jargon, these messages instead act as an additional source of difficulty.