Enhancing JFLAP with automata construction problems and automated feedback

Abstract

JFLAP is a powerful and popular educational software tool that allows students in Formal Languages and Automata courses to understand theoretical concepts in a visual and interactive manner. In this paper, we enhance the quality of JFLAP's interactivity in two ways that are extremely useful for beginners learning to build finite automata: (1) our tool can automatically generate a rich variety of practice problems (and their solutions) and immediately evaluate student answers, and (2) we propose a novel way for students to obtain prompt and meaningful feedback on their solutions to problems taken from other sources such as assignments or textbooks. We believe that these enhancements can greatly improve the utility of JFLAP as an instructional resource.