A Proposed Framework for Development of a Visualizer Based on Memory Transfer Language (MTL)

Computer programming is among the fundamental aspects of computer science curriculum. Many students first introduced to introductory computer programming courses experience difficulties in learning and comprehending. Vast amount of researches have revealed that, generally programming courses are regarded as difficult and challenging and thus often have the highest dropout rates. Moreover, numerous researches have devoted in delivering new approaches and tools in enhancing the process of teaching and learning computer programming to novice programmers. One among the tools that have emerged to offer positive results is Program Visualization tool (Visualizer). Visualizers have shown remarkable contributions in facilitating novices to learn and comprehend computer programming. In addition to that, an approach to visualize codes execution, Memory Transfer Language (MTL), allows a novice to animate the code through paper and pencil mechanism without actively involving the machine. MTL depends on the concepts of RAM (Random Access Memory) to interpret the code line by line. Programming requires effort and special approach in the way it is learned and taught, thus this paper aimed at presenting a proposed framework for developing a visualizer that employs the use of MTL to enhance teaching and learning programming. Keywords— MTL, RAM, Programming, Novice Programmer.