A taxonomic study of novice programming summative assessment

Learning to program is difficult, a situation that is largely responsible for high attrition rates in Computer Science schools. Novice programmers struggle to grasp an early understanding of programming, which can lead to frustration and eventually surrender. The problem has generated interest in a range of enquiries, and has given impetus to the need for a teaching-research nexus towards a better understanding of novice programming problems. We continue the trend in this paper and report on a study we have conducted of novice programming problems.