Flow2Code: From Hand-Drawn Flowcharts to Code Execution Conference Paper

abstract

• Flowcharts play an important role when learning to program by conveying algorithms graphically and making them easy to read and understand. Computer-based flowchart design requires the user to learn the software first, which often results in a steep learning curve. Paper-drawn flowcharts don't provide feedback. We propose a system that allows users to draw their flowcharts directly on paper combined with a mobile phone app that takes a photo of the flowchart, interprets it, and generates and executes the resulting code. Flow2Code uses off-line sketch recognition and computer vision algorithms to recognize flowcharts drawn on paper. To gain practice and feedback with flowcharts, the user needs only a pencil, white paper, and a mobile device. The paper describes a tested system and algorithmic model for recognizing and interpreting offline flowcharts as well as a novel geometric feature, Axis Aligned Score (AAS), that enables fast accurate recognition of various quadrilaterals.

name of conference

• 11th Conference on Pen and Touch Technology in Education. CPTTE 2017

authors

• Hammond, Tracy

published proceedings

• Publication:SBIM '17: Proceedings of the Symposium on Sketch-Based Interfaces and Modeling

author list (cited authors)

• Camara, J. I., Runyon, M., & Hammond, T.

citation count

• 0

complete list of authors

• Camara, Jorge Ivan||Runyon, Matthew||Hammond, Tracy

publication date

• July 2017

publisher

• ACM  Publisher

keywords

• Engineering Education

International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 13

• 978-1-4503-5079-2

URI

• https://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/161609

start page

• 1

end page

• 13

URL

• http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3092907.3092909