COOLIO: A Language Support Extension for the Classroom Object Oriented Language

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 VSCode editor to aid debugging. We believe that COOLIO will help students enjoy writing COOL programs and consequently learn and appreciate more advanced compiler concepts.