COOLIO: A Language Support Extension for the Classroom Object Oriented Language
Linhan Li, ThanhVu Nguyen

TL;DR
COOLIO is an extension for VSCode that enhances support for the COOL programming language, making it easier for students to learn compiler concepts through improved syntax highlighting, autocompletion, and feedback.
Contribution
This paper introduces COOLIO, a novel IDE extension that significantly improves the usability of COOL for educational purposes by integrating syntax support and compiler feedback.
Findings
Enhanced student engagement with COOL programming
Reduced errors and debugging time for students
Improved understanding of compiler features
Abstract
COOL is an Object-Oriented programming language used to teach compiler design in many undergraduate and graduate courses. Because most students are unfamiliar with the language and code editors and IDEs often lack the support for COOL, writing code and test programs in COOL are a burden to students, causing them to not fully understand many important and advanced features of the language and compiler. In this tool paper, we describe COOLIO,an extension to support COOL in the popular VSCode IDE. COOLIOprovides (i) syntax highlighting supports for the COOL language through lexing and parsing, (ii) semantics-aware autocompletion features that help students write less code and reduce the burden of having to remember unfamiliar COOL grammar and syntax, and (iii) relevant feedback from the underlying COOL interpreter/compiler (e.g., error messages, typing information) to the students through…
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Taxonomy
TopicsSoftware Engineering Research · Logic, programming, and type systems · Software Testing and Debugging Techniques
