Use of FOSS for Teaching the Parser Types to Improve Problem Solving Ability A Case Study on Analysis of Gender based Discrimination in Education

Abstract

Compiler Design is one of the core courses of Computer Science and Engineering. Syntax Analyzer or Parser is important phase in designing the compiler. So while designing this phase of the compiler, students must have thorough knowledge about the types of parser such as LL(1), SLR, Canonical LR and LALR. In the parser phase, the parsing table is built for given Context Free Grammar (CFG). While implementing this parsing phase in laboratory session, two Free Open Source Software (FOSS) - JFLAP and Parsing Emulator, are considered to explain the types of parser and building the parsing table for the CFG using these parser types. JFLAP is software for experimenting with formal languages topics including nondeterministic finite automata, nondeterministic pushdown automata, multi-tape Turing machines, several types of grammars, parsing, and Lsystems. So this tool is considered for parsing phase of Compiler. JFLAP tool is used to explain the steps to be followed to solve the given problem using the parsing technique. Parsing simulator is a software which implements the parsing table for the Context Free Grammars in tool. This simulator is used to generate parsing table (LL1, SLR, LR, and LALR). Parsing Emulator tool is used for practicing the problem statement given in the tool. In current study, use of FOSS such as JFLAP and Parsing Emulator is considered for teaching parser types to improve problem solving ability. The Learning Objectives (LOs) of this study are: To build the parsing table for given CFG using LL(1) and SLR parser (LO1) and to parse the given string using LL(1) and SLR parser (LO2). The research questions for this study are – whether the use of FOSS improves the problem solving ability of the students? and whether gender bias is there in education? Two groups post-test method is considered to check the effectiveness of this use of FOSS in learning the parser types. Also the students’ perception about this method is also considered. The result shows that the students’ problem solving ability of experimental group is improved as compared to the control group irrespective of gender. Keywords- FOSS (Free Open Source Software) JFLAP, Parsing Emulator, Bloom’s Taxonomy, Post-test, t-Test.