This sounds promising.
Mani
https://www.psu.edu/news/information-sciences-and-technology/story/new-coding-tool-could-aid-computer-programmers-who-are/
<https://www.psu.edu/news/information-sciences-and-technology/story/new-coding-tool-could-aid-computer-programmers-who-are/>
New coding tool could aid computer programmers who are blind or have low
vision
According to Billah, this is especially useful for blind and low-vision users
when navigating empty space or making sense of special symbols — such as
indentations or parentheses — which hold meaning in the code and serve as
visual markers for sighted programmers in traditional code editors. When used
with Grid Editor, a screen reader will audibly state that a cell is blank,
indicating to a blind or low-vision programmer that an indentation exists and
helps them to perceive their cursor’s location in the code. Grid Editor also
uses other audible cues to guide the user, such as announcing in which cell
the cursor is currently located, stating whether or buzzing when the user
reaches the boundary of the grid. Additionally, Grid Editor applies brightly
colored highlights to certain cells, mimicking colors used in traditional
code editors to further direct low-vision users.
After building their initial prototype, the researchers solicited feedback
from the online communities of blind or low-vision programmers for two
months. Then, to test the functionality of their final prototype, they
recruited 12 blind or low-vision programmers for a controlled lab study.
Participants used both a plain text editor and Grid Editor to complete
various coding tasks. The researchers observed the programmers’ activity and
measured accuracy and efficiency. On average, the participants were faster,
navigated more accurately and made fewer errors when using Grid Editor
compared to the traditional code editor.
“Think about coding as walking a road; for a sighted person, he can see the
road, but for a blind person, the road is dark and as a result he may fall,”
one study participant stated. “But if I have something to hold on to while
walking, it will help me walk the road more easily. The way I see it, Grid
Editor gives me that structure I can hold on to [while coding], as I always
know which line and level I am in.”
Billah, whose expertise lies in accessible computing, hopes that tools like
Grid Editor will help encourage more blind and low-vision individuals to
explore computer programming — a high paying field — as a career choice.
“Blind individuals are already at an economic disadvantage, and many of them
pursue careers in the music and audio transcription industries,” said
Billah.. ”However, computer programming can be a rewarding career choice for
them because programming is a text-based activity suitable for their
assistive technologies such as screen readers or refreshable Braille
displays. Therefore, if enough resources and tools are available to them to
learn computer programming easily and quickly, they can make a better living
for themselves.”
Billah and Ehtesham-Ul-Haque collaborated with Syed Mostofa Monsur,
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, on the work, which was
presented this week at the ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and
Technology <https://uist.acm.org/uist2022/> (UIST), the premier venue for
innovations in human-computer interfaces. The paper has received the
conference’s 2022 Best Paper Award.
Grid Editor is free to use and is publicly available online
<https://ally-ide.herokuapp.com/>. It works best with Chrome Browser with
NVDA screen reader. It currently supports Python programming language, but
support for other languages is underway.
The work was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health and in
part by Billah’s startup fund from the College of IST.