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This paper presents an experience report on using an interactive program visualization tool — Dynamic, Interactive Stack-Smashing Attack Visualization (DISSAV) — and a complementary active-learning exercise to teach stack smashing, a key software security attack. The visualization tool and active-learning exercise work synergistically to guide the student through challenging, abstract concepts in the advanced cybersecurity area. DISSAV and the exercise are deployed within the software security module of an undergraduate cybersecurity course that introduces a broad range of security topics. A study is designed that collects and evaluates student perceptions on the user interface of DISSAV and the effectiveness of the two resources in improving student learning and engagement. The study finds that over 80% of responses to user interface questions, 66% of responses to student learning questions and 64% of responses to student engagement questions are positive, suggesting that the resources improve student learning and engagement in general. The study does not find discernible patterns of difference in responses from students of different ages and varying levels of prior experience with stack smashing attacks, program visualization tools and C programming.
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This content will become publicly available on July 10, 2026
Jupyter Book 2 and the MyST Document Stack: A modular, extensible, web-native stack for authoring and publishing computational narratives
Jupyter Book allows researchers and educators to create books and knowledge bases that are reusable, reproducible, and interactive. This new foundation introduces a scalable way to publish interactive computational content, support structured metadata, and enable content reuse across contexts.
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- PAR ID:
- 10656203
- Publisher / Repository:
- Proceedings of the 24th Python in Science Conference
- Date Published:
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 173 to 193
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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