Turning automata theory into a hands-on course

2004

Abstract We describe the instructional software JFLAP 4.0 and how it can be used to provide a hands-on formal languages and automata theory course. JFLAP 4.0 doubles the number of chapters worth of material from JFLAP 3.1, now covering topics from eleven of thirteen chapters for a semester course. JFLAP 4.0 has easier interactive approaches to previous topics and covers many new topics including three parsing algorithms, multi-tape Turing machines, L-systems, and grammar transformations.

There is a need to introduce Information Systems students to advances in languages and automata theory in the early stages of their formation. Visualization and interactivity allow students to play an active role in the learning process, experimenting with the concepts to receive feedback. For this purpose, we propose MTSolution, an educational, visual and interactive software tool that allows teachers and students to experiment with different kinds of abstract models (automata, grammars and regular expressions). With this tool, students can improve their understanding and self-evaluate their own skills designing and testing models. In particular, MTSolution supports the concept of sub-machine providing a library of Turing machines that can be reused in modular designs. MTSolution is based on a client-server architecture and it is implemented in Microsoft Visual C++.NET.

Electronic Proceedings in Theoretical Computer Science, 2014

An introductory formal languages course exposes advanced undergraduate and early graduate students to automata theory, grammars, constructive proofs, computability, and decidability. Programming students find these topics to be challenging or, in many cases, overwhelming and on the fringe of Computer Science. The existence of this perception is not completely absurd since students are asked to design and prove correct machines and grammars without being able to experiment nor get immediate feedback, which is essential in a learning context. This article puts forth the thesis that the theory of computation ought to be taught using tools for actually building computations. It describes the implementation and the classroom use of a library, FSM, designed to provide students with the opportunity to experiment and test their designs using state machines, grammars, and regular expressions. Students are able to perform random testing before proceeding with a formal proof of correctness. That is, students can test their designs much like they do in a programming course. In addition, the library easily allows students to implement the algorithms they develop as part of the constructive proofs they write. Providing students with this ability ought to be a new trend in the formal languages classroom.

2009

Abstract We describe the results from a two-year study with fourteen universities on presenting formal languages in a more visual, interactive and applied manner using JFLAP. In our results the majority of students felt that having access to JFLAP made learning course concepts easier, made them feel more engaged in the course and made the course more enjoyable. We also describe changes and additions to JFLAP we have made based on feedback from users.

2007

Abstract The introduction of educational software such as JFLAP into the course Formal Languages and Automata (FLA) has created a learning environment with automatic feedback on theoretical topics. In this paper we show how we further increase the interaction in the FLA course with the expansion of additional theoretical topics in JFLAP, and how we have added grading support into JFLAP for instructors.

1997

Integrating hands-on practice into an automata and formal languages course aids in transforming the course from a traditional mathematics course into a traditional computer science course, while making the material more interesting from both teaching and learning perspectives. The interactive and visual tools we integrate into our course are FLAP, a tool for constructing and simulating several types of nondeterministic automata, and LLparse and LRparse, tools for constructing parse tables and animating the parsing of strings.

2002

Formal languages and automata theory (FL&AT) are central subjects in the CS curricula which are usually diffcult both to teach and to learn. This situation has motivated the development of a number of computer simulators as educational tools which allow the student to implement andbring to life'many topics which traditionally were studied and analyzed mathematically rather than algorithmically. This paper discusses the main features of several educational software tools currently available for teaching FL&AT.

ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, 2004

During a master degree class, we developed a toolkit to help students to understand the concepts of Automata Theory. It was denominated Language Emulator and has been used by undergraduate students to help them to learn the ideas of Automata Theory. Language emulator is a software developed in Java that allows the manipulation of regular expressions, regular grammar, deterministic finite automata, non-deterministic finite automata, non-deterministic finite automata with lambda transitions, Moore and Mealy machines. Using this software tool was of great acceptance among students, leading to over 95% of approval in a recent opinion research.

1997

Abstract We present a collection of new and enhanced tools for experimenting with concepts in formal languages and automata theory. New tools, written in Java, include JFLAP for creating and simulating finite automata, pushdown automata and Turing machines; Pâ té for parsing restricted and unrestricted grammars and transforming context-free grammars to Chomsky Normal Form; and PumpLemma for proving specific languages are not regular.

Proceedings of the 52nd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education

The material taught in a Formal Languages and Automata (FLA) course is mathematical in nature and requires students to practice proofs and algorithms to understand the content. Traditional FLA textbooks are heavy on prose, and homework typically consists of solving many paper exercises. Instructors often make use of Finite State Machine simulators like the JFLAP package. JFLAP allows students to interactively build models and apply different algorithms to these models, providing both a more interactive and a more visual approach. However, course materials have still traditionally relied largely on prose and hand-graded exercises, limiting both the interaction and the amount of practice. In this paper, we propose an eTextbook with integrated tools (simulators and auto-graded exercises) that allow for greater interactivity and levels of engagement. To evaluate the pedagogical effectiveness of our approach, we conducted performance evaluations across different offerings of an FLA course. Results indicate that students using the integrated eTextbook performed better than did a control group using a traditional textbook approach. Students gave positive feedback regarding the usefulness of the auto-graded exercises for practicing different FLA concepts. CCS CONCEPTS • Social and professional topics → Student assessment; • Applied computing → Interactive learning environments; • Software and its engineering → Simulator / interpreter.