EZASP -- Facilitating the usage of ASP

TL;DR

EZASP is a Visual Studio Code extension that supports Easy ASP methodology, helping users learn and develop ASP programs with structured guidance, error detection, and automatic reordering.

Contribution

It introduces a tool that integrates Easy ASP features into a popular IDE, enhancing learning and development for both beginners and experienced users.

Findings

User study indicates benefits for new and experienced users.

Extension provides warnings and automatic reordering features.

Supports syntax error highlighting and configurability.

Abstract

Answer Set Programming (ASP) is a declarative programming language used for modeling and solving complex combinatorial problems. It has been successfully applied to a number of different realworld problems. However, learning its usage can prove challenging as the declarative language, from a conceptual perspective, differs substantially from imperative programming, and programs are not required to adhere to any particular structure, offering arguably almost too much freedom for a beginner. Recently, a new methodology called Easy Answer Set Programming (Easy ASP) has been introduced that aims to aid in this learning process by focussing on a well-defined fragment of the ASP language and introducing additional structure to the programs. However, while this methodology can indeed be employed, to the best of our knowledge, no tool integrates its features currently. In this paper, we present EZASP, a Visual Studio Code extension designed to support the development of ASP programs following the Easy ASP methodology. It covers and extends the language fragment of Easy ASP and provides the user with warnings in the case of deviations from the methodology as well as the possibility to automatically reorder the program. Complementarily, it also adds syntax error highlighting, including detection of non-safe variables directly while editing, and configurability, as all features can be optionally disabled. A small user study in the context of university teaching suggests that these features are benefitial for both new and experienced users.