To automate this process at scale, we can adopt a multi-faceted approach, drawing

from research in code summarization, code analysis, and machine learning. Here's a
detailed approach:

Data Collection and Preprocessing:

Collect Snapshots: Gather code snapshots, ideally with accompanying logs of student
activities, from the coding project. These snapshots can be timestamped code
versions along with comments, commit messages, and interactions.
Tokenization: Tokenize code and comments, which involves breaking down code into
meaningful chunks such as identifiers, keywords, literals, and comments.
Data Alignment: Align code snapshots based on common code segments and timestamps,
creating a timeline of code evolution for each student.
Feature Engineering:
4. Extract Key Metrics: Compute various code metrics for each snapshot, including
code complexity, lines of code, code churn (changes between snapshots), and comment
density. These metrics help quantify code quality and changes.

Natural Language Processing (NLP): Apply NLP techniques to analyze comments and
commit messages, extracting sentiment, topics, and intent. This provides insights
into the student's thought process and challenges.
Temporal Analysis:
6. Change Detection: Detect significant code changes over time using techniques
like diff analysis. This helps identify periods of rapid development or challenges.

Pattern Recognition: Identify recurring patterns, such as the student frequently

modifying a particular code section or struggling with specific tasks.
Machine Learning Models:
8. Sequence-to-Sequence Models: Utilize sequence-to-sequence models, often used in
code summarization, to generate summaries of code changes between snapshots. These
models can highlight what code sections were added, modified, or removed in each
iteration.

Sentiment Analysis: Train sentiment analysis models on comments and commit messages
to understand the emotional tone and sentiments expressed by the student. Positive
or negative sentiments might indicate challenges or breakthroughs.
Topic Modeling: Apply topic modeling algorithms (e.g., LDA or NMF) to identify the
main topics of discussion in comments. This can reveal areas where students
struggle or excel.
Visualization and Reporting:
11. Dashboard Creation: Develop a dashboard or user interface that displays the
structured descriptions of students' progress over time. Visualizations like
timelines, sentiment trends, and code change summaries can provide a holistic view.

Report Generation: Automatically generate reports summarizing a student's journey,

highlighting milestones, challenges, and improvements. These reports can be shared
with educators and students.
Feedback Loop and Improvement:
13. Feedback Integration: Implement a feedback mechanism where educators can
validate and correct the automated summaries. This feedback loop helps improve the
system's accuracy and relevance.

Model Re-training: Periodically retrain machine learning models using the corrected
data and additional snapshots to enhance accuracy and adapt to evolving coding
patterns.
Scalability and Performance:
15. Parallel Processing: Implement parallel processing and distributed computing to
handle a large volume of snapshots efficiently.
Cloud Infrastructure: Utilize cloud-based resources for scalability, ensuring the
system can handle a growing dataset of code snapshots.
Ethical Considerations:
17. Privacy: Ensure that personally identifiable information (PII) is anonymized or
removed from the snapshots to protect students' privacy.