Volume 7, Issue 4, April – 2022 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology

ISSN No:-2456-2165

Programming Language Preference among

Undergraduate Students in Nigeria
*
Adene, Gift Mbonu, Chinedu Emmanuel; Alade, Samuel Mayowa;
Department of Computer Science, Department of Computer Science,
AkanuIbiam Federal Polytechnic, Unwana Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka

Mba, Chioma Juliet

Enugu State Polytechnic, Iwollo

Abstract:- This paper focuses on accessing the Programming languages are generally classified into
programming language preference among Computer two groups according to how their commands are processed
Science and Computer Engineering undergraduate and mode of their translation. They include functional,
students in two Nigerian tertiary institutions. Its aim is imperative and interpreted and compiled programming
to understand and bring to light, the reason behind the language. The imperative language program involves the
programming language choice and how it affects the decomposition of a programming tasks into collections of
design output and problem-solving ability of the variables, data structure and subroutines. Besides,
students. Questionnaires were administered via Google imperative or language uses a series of commands grouped
docs and 410 Computer Science and Computer into blocks and comprising of conditional statements, which
Engineering students of AkanuIbiam Federal allows the program to return to the block of condition if
Polytechnic, Unwana, and Nnamdi Azikiwe University, condition is met. However, the functional programming
Awka, responded. The researcher asked questions based language, also known as procedural languages, is the
on curriculum, lecturers’ influence, design goal, language which creates programs using functions, returning
component reusability, platform consideration, and ease to a new output state and receiving as input the result of
of debugging, code portability and more. The other functions. [4] described functional languages as the
respondents revealed that they have personal favorites language that rely on mathematical functions to allow the
and that they would prefer a language that is stated in reflection of a problem at a higher level of abstraction. E.g.
the curriculum and taught to them in addition to LISP. Examples of the programming languages according to
considering the complexity of the language elements, their mode of translation includes VB.Net, BASIC, JAVA,
target platforms and suitability for the problem at hand Perl, Python, Prolog, PHP, LISP, MATLAB (interpreted and
and lecturers’ influence. The researcher recommended intermediate languages) while the examples of compiled
that modern programming languages that can solve programming languages include Pascal, ADA, C-language,
different real-life problems be incorporated into C++, COBOL, FORTRAN. Today, the programming
Computer Science and Computer Engineering language has undergone improvements and extensibility due
curriculums in tertiary institutions in Nigeria. Lecturers to advancement in computer technology. Hence, there exist
were also urged to learn and master modern structured programming and particularly Object-Oriented
programming languages. Programming (OOP) which has become the Centre of
interest of programming language among classroom teachers
Keywords:- Programming, Students, Computer Science, for about two decades
Nigeria, Preference.
The major component of undergraduate Computer
I. INTRODUCTION Science (CS) and Computer Engineering (CE) curriculum is
programming. This is specified by the body which regulates
Computer technology ranks as one of the greatest university education in Nigeria, the one which regulates
innovations in human history. Majority of the innovations in polytechnic education in the country and another which
the world today were sourced, developed or implemented specifically regulates the practice of the computing
with computer and computer programming. Computer profession in Nigeria. They are respectively the National
programming is the process of designing and building an Universities Commission (NUC), the National Board for
executable computer program to accomplish a specific Technical Education (NBTE) and the Computer
computing result or to perform a specific task. It involves Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN).
tasks like - analysis, generating algorithms, profiling
algorithms' accuracy and resource consumption, and the In fact, the last decade has witnessed a drastic change
implementation of algorithms in a chosen programming in the world of information technology, particularly it has
language [1]. Programming involves an understanding of brought about development in the computer technology
activities, modifying and debugging computer program. which has affected both individual life and communal life.
Indeed, the acquisition of programming skills is described as The importance of computer programming to undergraduate
a vital instrument for developing problem solving skill [2]. computer science and computer engineering students can
never be overemphasized but despite its importance, many
CS and CE students still run away from it. Some even go as

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Volume 7, Issue 4, April – 2022 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
ISSN No:-2456-2165
far as erasing every thought of learning it, tagging it [8] in his study examined how gender could affect
‘difficult’. computer programming preference among student. In the
study, the researcher aimed at finding out which gender
In Nigeria, the focus of the study has been a dearth of engage more in programming language course. In an attempt
resources with respect to knowing students’ choice of to achieve the objectives, the researcher limited the scope of
programming language. This paper communicates the output programming language to mark-up language and scripting
of a study conducted on CS and CE in two tertiary language (HTML, VBScript, JavaScript, PERL) with some
institutions in Eastern Nigeria. It aims at determining the assumptions stated. The study was conducted in Moraine
factors that impact their choice of programming languages valley Community College and data was obtained from the
and make recommendations to faculties based on these computer programming course tracks, especially in the
factors. introductory course. The data gathered was analysed using
descriptive statistics to determine the model of registration
II. REVIEW OF RELATED WORK among the female folks with respect to their inclination to
Very few literatures exist in determining the the computer programming language of their choice.
preferences of programming languages among Findings revealed that gender does not have a significant
undergraduate students in Nigeria tertiary institutions. This effect on the preference of student in their choice of
is because the language of choice does not depend on computer programming language at the college.
pedagogical choices but also on industry as expressed [9] examined computer programming attitude and self-
by[5].Computer programming is important today because so efficacy of the undergraduate and associate degree students’
much of our world and the things around us are automated. in Turkey according to some individual variables. The study
People need to be able to control the interaction between was conducted using quantitative research method.
people and machines. Since computers and machines are Questionnaires were administered to 306 participating
able to do things so efficiently and accurately, we use students but 305 were returned. Two major instruments were
computer programming to harness that computing power. used to gather information in this study namely Computer
[6] opined that “Programming is considered as one of Programming Self-Efficacy Scale, Computer Programming
the most important aspect of computing as it enables logical Attitude Scale (CIAS)and Holistic and Analytic Thinking in
thinking in computer scientists, bring their solutions to Problem-solving Scale developed by [10],[11] and [12]. The
fruition and enables them build reliable software systems.” data obtained was analysed using multivariable regression
[4] iterated that “increased problem-solving skills and analysis and MANOVA. Results implied that the
computational thinking are some of the benefits of coding in participants with different thinking styles showed significant
a programming language.” Technology. Programming is differences with regards to programming attitude and
known for its complexity and difficulty, and thus many programming self-efficacy. Programming attitude and
programming students havedifficulties with acquiring thinking style were significant predictors of programming
necessary programming competencies [7] self-efficacy. IN addition, there is no meaningful difference
between genders in terms of the common effect and the
[6] conducted a study on programming language partial effect of programming attitude and programming
preferences among undergraduate student, especially female self-efficacy. Nevertheless, changes were observed between
Computer Science undergraduate students in Nigerian participants from different departments and with different
tertiary institutions. The study was with the aim 0f weekly study time.
determining the factors that influence the choice of
programming language among these set of undergraduates III. MATERIALS AND METHODS
as well as the effects on the choice of programming A. Research Design
language on efficiency and problem-solving abilities of The study aimed at determining the preference of
student. A mixed method was adopted for this study undergraduate students on their choice of programming
(quantitative and qualitative). The quantitative employed a language using the criteria and the set of assumptions made.
descriptive survey design method while the qualitative made method adopted in this study is the descriptive survey
use of in-depth interview. The study was carried out in four research design to obtain the appropriate information and
tertiary institution in the North-Central zone of Nigeria. data, which seeks to describe events, conditions and
Similarly, 35 questionnaires were administered to 35 occurrences as they are without manipulations of what
participants based on certain criteria like personal interest, caused the events that is being described. The rationale
technical properties (syntax and semantics) and were behind the adoption of descriptive survey research design is
returned immediately. In the same context, 15 onsite to examine a phenomenon in the state of Anambra with
interviews were conducted and the interviewees’ response to respect to science teacher’s competence and attitude towards
the touch points was recorded. The findings revealed that the computer integration in teaching science subjects in
students were indifferent to the technical features. However, secondary schools.
they showed preference for language that provides support
for modularity and those that are easy to learn and
understand.

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Volume 7, Issue 4, April – 2022 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
ISSN No:-2456-2165
B. Research Sample Space and Data Gathering obtained by using online survey method of sending
This research was conducted among the undergraduate questionnaires to undergraduate students across the
computer science and engineering students in two tertiary twotertiary institutions. A total of 410 questionnaires
institutions in South-Eastern state of Nigeria. There were no wasadministered anddistributed to respondents through
special criteriaused in the selection of these two institutions online means and immediately collected back upon
other than the fact of their proximity to the researcher. In completion leading to a response rate of 100%. This is with
addition, due to the few numbers of undergraduate students the view to determine the choice of the students toward
in the sciences, the only way to get a substantial sample computer programming. The five-point Likert-type scale
space is by expanding the study sites beyond the consists of two factors and x items. For each item, the
researcher’s present institution. The researcher also felt it is participant picks one of the following preferences: Strongly
necessary to obtain diverse opinions across more than one Agree (5), Agree (4), Neutral (3), Disagree (2), Strongly
institution. This study adopted the Computer Programming Disagree (1).The results of the online survey questionnaire
Attitude Scale instrument developed by [11] to collect were received and analyzed via Google form using
data.The data used for this study were collected through percentages.
both primary and secondary sources.Primary data used were

Characteristics Frequency percentage frequency (%)

School
UNIZIK 279 72
AIFPU 131 32
Total 410 100
Gender
Male 324 79
Female 86 21

Total 410 100

Course of Study
CS 295 72
CE 115 28
Total 410 100
Table 1: Participant’s demographic characteristics

KEY: CS=Computer Science, CE=Computer Engineering

Detailed information of the participants according to These group of questions were drawn up to test the
school and gender of undergraduate as depicted in Table1. students’ favourite language based on individuals’interest
279 students were from UNIZIK and 131 from AIFPU from consequent of what is known about language(s). The
the various CS and CE departments respectively. Of the total knowledge is not restricted to languages taught as part of the
410 participants, 79% were males and 21% were females in curriculum but also included those programming languages
the study. the students choose to learn on their own or are generally
familiar with as a result of their association with the
In addition to the specific questions, testing for factors community of user. Questions were drawn up to check the
responsible for programming language preferences, personal number of students’ preference for a particular/specific
information like Institution, course of study, sex among language centered on the following informational yardstick
others were asked in the survey. To determine what factors (see Table 1).
that influenced the choice of programming languages among
undergraduate CS and CE students, the researcher developed The questions drawn up under the semantic dimensions
a set of evaluation criteria. These were based on the checked the students’ preferences based on the technical
informational criteria of programming languages knowledge properties of the language environments and those of the
and the semantic dimensions of the codes and coding codes and other by-products resulting from the language.
process, the syntax and semantics of the language elements
as well as other technical considerations.

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Volume 7, Issue 4, April – 2022 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
ISSN No:-2456-2165
IV. DISCUSSION OF RESULTS

A. Percentage distribution of respondents according to institution of study

68% of respondents are from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka (UNIZIK) while 32% are from AkanuIbiam Federal
Polytechnic, Unwana (AIFPU).

Fig. 1: Percentage of respondents according to Institution

B. Percentage distribution of respondents according to course of study

72% of respondents are studying Computer Science while 28% are studying Computer Engineering.

Fig. 2: Percentage of respondents according to course of study

C. Percentage distribution of respondents according to sex

79% of respondents are male, while 21% are female.

Fig. 3: Pie chart showing the demographics of respondents according to sex

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Volume 7, Issue 4, April – 2022 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
ISSN No:-2456-2165
D. Level of study of respondents
For the level of study of respondent’s participants, 5% of respondents are National Diploma (ND) 1/Year 1 students, 7% are
ND 2/Year 2 students. 37% are Higher National Diploma (HND) 1/Year 3 students, 42% are HND 2/Year 4 students. While 9%
are Year 5 (CE) students.

Fig. 4: Demographics of level of study of respondents

E. Level of perceived interest in learning programming

95% of respondents have interest in programming, while 5% are neutral about it.

Fig. 5: Demographics of respondent’s interest in learning programming

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Volume 7, Issue 4, April – 2022 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
ISSN No:-2456-2165
F. Favourite Programming Language
As regards the preference of language, 27% of the respondents revealed that Python is the favorite language they use. Another
27% selected Java. 17% chose PHP, 17% chose JavaScript while 7% chose C++. However, the remaining 5% chose Visual
Basic.Net, C-language, R-programming, Cascade Style Sheet (CSS) and others.

Fig. 6: Demographics of respondents according to favorite language.

G. Personal interest and semantic dimension tests

Questions based on PERSONAL INTEREST Choice (n=410)

SA(%) A(%) N(%) D(%) SD(%)
Programming Skills are enforced in my department 31 40 13 9 7
Lecturers Influence my likeness to a Programming Language 35 30 22 13 -
I select programming language based on how suitable it is for my design goal 38 44 18 - -
My choice of language is influenced based on how easy it is 64 22 14 - -
Table 2: Table showing the items constructed to answer question based on personal interest.

Questions based on SEMANTIC DIMENSION SA(%) A(%) N(%) D(%) SD(%)

My choice of language is influenced based on availability of user support 16 28 40 9 7
My choice of Language is based on its Career opportunity and Flexibility 23 49 17 2 9
Component reusability affects my choice of language 46 31 9 10 4
Code Portability affects my choice of Language 11 35 32 20 2
Ease of Debugging affects my choice of Language 45 41 13 1 -
Platform Consideration affects my choice of language 40 35 6 16 3
I choose Language based on how it enhances my problem-solving skills 16 61 14 5 4
Table 3: Table showing the items constructed to answer question based on semantic

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ISSN No:-2456-2165
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