miscon:programming.variables.assignment-moves-value · draft · trust low · v0.1.1 · kind misapplied-analogy

Assignment moves the value out of the source

Assigning a = b moves the value from b into a, so b is empty or zero afterwards.

Stable URI: https://open-misconceptions.github.io/miscon-data/m/programming.variables.assignment-moves-value
UUID: 55c0374e-b4f9-4b70-aef3-8d020d2c99c1
Domain: programming.variables
Level band: secondary, undergraduate, adult
Locale: en
About: https://open-misconceptions.github.io/miscon-data/c/programming.variables.assignment (Miscon)

Evidence patterns

Pattern 0: trace the source variable after an assignment

reports the source as empty, zero or undefined

Item

b = 4
a = b
What is b?

Expected4

Response0 (or 'nothing')

Discriminators

vs a slip. Consistent across items; the learner explains that the value 'went into' the other variable. A slip does not empty the source.

vs programming.variables.assignment-links-variables. Linkers keep both variables and couple them; movers empty the source.

Relations

conflicts_with: Assignment copies a value into a variable at one moment (external)
resolved_by: Assignment copies a value into a variable at one moment (external)
confusable_with: programming.variables.assignment-links-variables
programming.variables.assignment-is-equation

Provenance

Origin: llm-drafted

Bayman, P., & Mayer, R. E. (1983). A diagnosis of beginning programmers' misconceptions of BASIC programming statements. Communications of the ACM, 26(9), 677-679. doi:10.1145/358172.358408
LET statements understood as moving a value.
du Boulay, B. (1986). Some difficulties of learning to program. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 2(1), 57-73. doi:10.2190/3LFX-9RRF-67T8-UVK9
Sorva, J. (2012). Visual Program Simulation in Introductory Programming Education (Doctoral dissertation, Aalto University). Appendix A catalogues introductory programming misconceptions from the literature. link

Drafted from the cited literature for the Open Misconceptions seed pack; statement, examples and discriminators are original text. Awaiting maintainer review.

Review status

Status draft, trust low (computed from the reviews below against the reviewer registry).

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Formats

Raw JSON
CASE 1.1 package (CFItem 55c0374e-b4f9-4b70-aef3-8d020d2c99c1)
Source on GitHub

Cite

miscon:programming.variables.assignment-moves-value
https://open-misconceptions.github.io/miscon-data/m/programming.variables.assignment-moves-value