JFLAP Extensions for Instructors and Students

Author

Shekhar, Vinay ; Prabhu, Akshata ; Puranik, Kavitha ; Antin, Lakshmi ; Kumar, Vipin

Author_Institution

Dept. of Inf. Sci. & Eng., PES Inst. of Technol., Bangalore, India

fYear

2014

fDate

18-21 Dec. 2014

Firstpage

140

Lastpage

143

Abstract

JFLAP is a popular open-source software tool used in Formal Languages and Automata courses. In this paper, we present two kinds of enhancements to JFLAP´s capabilities with regards to finite automata: (1) we provide instructors with the ability to understand difficulties faced by students on an individual and collective basis by tracking student progress as they solve automata construction problems, and (2) we offer students a simple and intuitive means to specify correctness of their automata constructions, and a mechanism to easily test their automata against such correctness specifications. We believe that these extensions enhance the value of JFLAP as a resource for both instructors and students.

Keywords

computer aided instruction; computer science education; finite automata; formal languages; public domain software; software tools; JFLAP extensions; automata construction problems; finite automata; formal languages; open-source software tool; Automata; Conferences; Education; Formal languages; Learning automata; Programming; JFLAP; formal languages and automata; interactive learning environments;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Technology for Education (T4E), 2014 IEEE Sixth International Conference on

Conference_Location

Clappana

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/T4E.2014.22

Filename

7009556