This demonstration describes a new approach to algorithm animation, one in which the students construct the animations. We introduce the Samba system that facilitates this process and describe how it has been used an undergraduate algorithms courses as a teaching aid. Having students build the animations, that is, construct the mapping from concepts to images, appears to enable true understanding of the algorithm under study. Keywords Algorithm animation, education, design, programming, software visualization. Copyright on this material is held by the authors.
Algorithms are the basic building blocks of the discipline.
It is critically important that students understand algorithm methodologies and techniques. Since the premiere of Ron Baecker's Sorting Out Sorting film, algorithm animation has been viewed as a potentially valuable tool for helping to teach algorithms. A number of schools use algorithm animations in the curriculum. In such an approach, it is critical that the algorithm animation construction system be very easy to learn and use. A complex, involved system may force students to expend the majority of their time and energy on the mechanics of building animations.