W3 - Guest lecture from JetBrain Research

Title: Learning Programming Inside the IDE: Why UI Matters

Abstract: Recently, the in-IDE learning format was introduced, the main goal of which is to move the entire learning process — including theory, quizzes, and programming exercises — into a professional IDE. This format opens up great opportunities for improving the learning experience, and can be utilized to develop various useful features that are helpful to students. Such features include AI-based next-step hints, term explanations, or even a new learning paradigm — teaching students how to prompt LLMs efficiently. However, implementing a complex technical solution is not enough to make the learning process efficient for students. We also need to pay attention to the interaction part and design understandable interfaces. In this talk, we will share the experience of JetBrains in developing several helpful features for students in the in-IDE format from both sides. On the one hand, we will share some insightful ideas on how to combine the power of the IDE with LLMs and improve the quality of the LLM's output. On the other hand, we will share why and how we designed the interface part, why we paid more attention to some aspects, and what lessons we learned. Finally, we will have an interactive part where you will be given the choice to try the solution described in the presentation or to take a fun quiz about different interface design practices.

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