Abstract
Novice programmers experience emotional difficulties in informal online learning environments, where Confusion and Frustration can hinder motivation and learning outcomes. This study investigates novice programmers' emotional experiences in informal settings, identifies causes of emotional struggle, and explores design opportunities for affect-aware support systems. We manually annotated 1,500 posts from r/learnprogramming using the Learning-Centered Emotions framework, applying clustering, and axial coding. Confusion, Curiosity, and Frustration dominated emotional experiences, sometimes co-occurring and linked to early learning stages. Positive emotions were infrequent. The primary emotional triggers included ambiguous errors, unclear learning pathways, and misaligned resources. We identify five key areas where novice programmers need support in informal space: Stress Relief and Resilient Motivation, Topic Explanation and Resource Recommendation, Strategic Decision Making and Learning Guidance, Technical Support, and Supporting Acknowledgment. Our findings underscore the need for intelligent, affect-sensitive mechanism for providing timely support aligned with learners' emotional states.
Recommended Citation
A. Al Hasan et al., "Learning Programming In Informal Spaces: Using Emotion As A Lens To Understand Novice Struggles On R/learnprogramming," Proceedings 2026 IEEE ACM 48th International Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training ICSE Seet 2026, pp. 13 - 24, Association for Computing Machinery, Jul 2026.
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1145/3786580.3786946
Department(s)
Computer Science
Publication Status
Open Access
Keywords and Phrases
Affect-Aware Educational Software Support; Empirical Study; Learning-Centered Emotions; Novice Programmers
Document Type
Article - Conference proceedings
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2026 The Author(s), All rights reserved.
Creative Commons Licensing
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Publication Date
13 Jul 2026
