Usability of Error Messages for Introductory Students
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Compiler Error Messages Considered Unhelpful: the Landscape of Text-Based Programming Error Message Research
Working Group Report ITiCSE-WGR ’19, July 15–17, 2019, Aberdeen, Scotland Uk Compiler Error Messages Considered Unhelpful: The Landscape of Text-Based Programming Error Message Research Brett A. Becker∗ Paul Denny∗ Raymond Pettit∗ University College Dublin University of Auckland University of Virginia Dublin, Ireland Auckland, New Zealand Charlottesville, Virginia, USA [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Durell Bouchard Dennis J. Bouvier Brian Harrington Roanoke College Southern Illinois University Edwardsville University of Toronto Scarborough Roanoke, Virgina, USA Edwardsville, Illinois, USA Scarborough, Ontario, Canada [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Amir Kamil Amey Karkare Chris McDonald University of Michigan Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur University of Western Australia Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA Kanpur, India Perth, Australia [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Peter-Michael Osera Janice L. Pearce James Prather Grinnell College Berea College Abilene Christian University Grinnell, Iowa, USA Berea, Kentucky, USA Abilene, Texas, USA [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] ABSTRACT of evidence supporting each one (historical, anecdotal, and empiri- Diagnostic messages generated by compilers and interpreters such cal). This work can serve as a starting point for those who wish to as syntax error messages have been researched for over half of a conduct research on compiler error messages, runtime errors, and century. Unfortunately, these messages which include error, warn- warnings. We also make the bibtex file of our 300+ reference corpus ing, and run-time messages, present substantial difficulty and could publicly available. -
Common Logic Errors for Programming Learners: a Three-Decade Litera- Ture Survey
Paper ID #32801 Common Logic Errors for Programming Learners: A Three-decade Litera- ture Survey Nabeel Alzahrani, University of California, Riverside Nabeel Alzahrani is a Computer Science Ph.D. student in the Department of Computer Science and En- gineering at the University of California, Riverside. Nabeel’s research interests include causes of student struggle, and debugging methodologies, in introductory computer programming courses. Prof. Frank Vahid, University of California, Riverside Frank Vahid is a Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the Univ. of California, Riverside. His research interests include embedded systems design, and engineering education. He is a co-founder of zyBooks.com. c American Society for Engineering Education, 2021 Common Logic Errors for Programming Learners: A Three- Decade Literature Survey Nabeel Alzahrani, Frank Vahid* Computer Science and Engineering University of California, Riverside {nalza001, vahid}@ucr.edu *Also with zyBooks Abstract We surveyed common logic errors made by students learning programming in introductory (CS1) programming classes, as reported in 47 publications from 1985 to 2018. A logic error causes incorrect program execution, in contrast to a syntax error, which prevents execution. Logic errors tend to be harder to detect and fix and are more likely to cause students to struggle. The publications described 166 common logic errors, which we classified into 11 error categories: input (2 errors), output (1 error), variable (7 errors), computation (21 errors), condition (18 errors), branch (14 errors), loop (27 errors), array (5 errors), function (24 errors), conceptual (43 errors), and miscellaneous (4 errors). Among those errors, we highlighted 43 that seemed to be the most common and/or troublesome. -
Automated Debugging of Java Syntax Errors Through Diagnosis
Uti and Fox Automated debugging of Java syntax errors through diagnosis Ngozi V. Uti and Dr. Richard Fox Department of Mathematics and Computer Science Northern Kentucky University Highland Heights, KY 41099 Abstract Syntax errors arise in a program because the program code misuses the programming language. When these errors are detected by a compiler, they are not necessarily easy to debug because the compiler error message that reports the error is often misleading. JaSD, a knowledge-based system written in Java, is a program that can determine the cause of a given syntax error and suggest how to correct that error. JaSD uses artificial intelligence techniques to perform debugging. Currently, JaSD has enough knowledge to debug one of four different Java syntax errors. This paper describes the JaSD system and the diagnostic approach taken and offers some examples. Conclusions describe how JaSD can be expanded to debug additional errors. Introduction expected error is common because a semicolon is used Syntax errors can arise in a program because the in Java, C, and C++ to end instructions and in Pascal to program code misuses the programming language. The delineate (separate) instructions. Forgetting a semico- compiler, in its attempt to translate the high-level lan- lon is common and yields the semicolon-expected guage program into machine language, has reached an error in any of these languages. Thus, the programmer instruction that it does not understand. The error might learns how the error can arise. However, there are be because the programmer misused the high-level lan- numerous possible causes for this error, omitting a guage (e.g., improper punctuation or not structuring a semicolon being only one of them. -
Introduction to Computers and Programming
M01_GADD7119_01_SE_C01.QXD 1/30/08 12:55 AM Page 1 Introduction to Computers CHAPTER 1 and Programming TOPICS 1.1 Introduction 1.4 How a Program Works 1.2 Hardware and Software 1.5 Using Python 1.3 How Computers Store Data 1.1 Introduction Think about some of the different ways that people use computers. In school, students use com- puters for tasks such as writing papers, searching for articles, sending email, and participating in online classes. At work, people use computers to analyze data, make presentations, conduct busi- ness transactions, communicate with customers and coworkers, control machines in manufac- turing facilities, and do many other things. At home, people use computers for tasks such as pay- ing bills, shopping online, communicating with friends and family, and playing computer games. And don’t forget that cell phones, iPods®, BlackBerries®, car navigation systems, and many other devices are computers too. The uses of computers are almost limitless in our everyday lives. Computers can do such a wide variety of things because they can be programmed. This means that computers are not designed to do just one job, but to do any job that their programs tell them to do. A program is a set of instructions that a computer follows to perform a task. For example, Figure 1-1 shows screens from two commonly used programs, Microsoft Word and Adobe Photoshop. Microsoft Word is a word processing program that allows you to create, edit, and print documents with your computer. Adobe Photoshop is an image editing program that allows you to work with graphic images, such as photos taken with your digital camera. -
Compile and Runtime Errors in Java
Compile and Runtime Errors in Java Mordechai (Moti) Ben-Ari Department of Science Teaching Weizmann Institute of Science Rehovot 76100 Israel http://stwww.weizmann.ac.il/g-cs/benari/ January 24, 2007 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc-nd/2.5/; or, (b) send a letter to Creative Commons, 543 Howard Street, 5th Floor, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA. Acknowledgement Otto Seppälä and Niko Myller contributed many helpful suggestions. Contents 1 Introduction 5 2 Compile-time Errors 6 2.1 Syntax errors . 7 2.1.1 . expected . 7 2.1.2 unclosed string literal . 7 2.1.3 illegal start of expression . 8 2.1.4 not a statement . 8 2.2 Identifiers . 10 2.2.1 cannot find symbol . 10 2.2.2 . is already defined in . 10 2.2.3 array required but . found . 10 2.2.4 . has private access in . 10 2.3 Computation . 11 2.3.1 variable . might not have been initialized . 11 2.3.2 . in . cannot be applied to . 11 2.3.3 operator . cannot be applied to . ,. 12 2.3.4 possible loss of precision . 12 2.3.5 incompatible types . 12 2.3.6 inconvertible types . 13 2.4 Return statements . 13 2.4.1 missing return statement . 13 2.4.2 missing return value . 14 2.4.3 cannot return a value from method whose result type is void . 14 2.4.4 invalid method declaration; return type required . -
Compile and Runtime Errors in Java
Compile and Runtime Errors in Java Mordechai (Moti) Ben-Ari Department of Science Teaching Weizmann Institute of Science Rehovot 76100 Israel http://stwww.weizmann.ac.il/g-cs/benari/ August 27, 2007 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc-nd/2.5/; or, (b) send a letter to Creative Commons, 543 Howard Street, 5th Floor, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA. Acknowledgement Otto Seppälä and Niko Myller contributed many helpful suggestions. Contents 1 Introduction 5 2 Compile-time Errors 6 2.1 Syntax errors . 7 2.1.1 . expected . 7 2.1.2 unclosed string literal . 7 2.1.3 illegal start of expression . 8 2.1.4 not a statement . 8 2.2 Identifiers . 10 2.2.1 cannot find symbol . 10 2.2.2 . is already defined in . 10 2.2.3 array required but . found . 10 2.2.4 . has private access in . 10 2.3 Computation . 11 2.3.1 variable . might not have been initialized . 11 2.3.2 . in . cannot be applied to . 11 2.3.3 operator . cannot be applied to . ,. 12 2.3.4 possible loss of precision . 12 2.3.5 incompatible types . 12 2.3.6 inconvertible types . 13 2.4 Return statements . 13 2.4.1 missing return statement . 13 2.4.2 missing return value . 14 2.4.3 cannot return a value from method whose result type is void . 14 2.4.4 invalid method declaration; return type required . -
Truffle/Graal: from Interpreters to Optimizing Compilers Via Partial Evaluation
Truffle/Graal: From Interpreters to Optimizing Compilers via Partial Evaluation Jonathan Aldrich 17-396/17-696/17-960: Language Design and Prototyping Carnegie Mellon University Many slides from Oracle’s PLDI 2016 and 2017 tutorials on Truffle/Graal—marked where they occur. 1 Interpreters for Prototyping • Writing optimizing compilers is hard • Many complex optimization algorithms • Relies on knowledge of architecture and performance characteristics • See 15-411/15-611, 15-745 • So when we prototype with interpreters • Easy to write • Easy to change when the language changes • Unfortunately, interpreters are slow • Especially if you make them simple! • Could be 2 orders of magnitude slower than an optimizing compiler • Is there any way to make an interpreter faster? 2 From Interpreter to Compiler • Given • An interpreter for guest language G written in host language H • “if you see an add expression, add the two arguments” • A program in language G • “add(add(x, y), z)” • What if we “run” the interpreter on the program? • Whenever we get to actual input data, we’ll stop evaluating there (but keep going elsewhere) • “add(add(x, y), z)” x+y+z • We have essentially “compiled” the language • This is called Partial Evaluation • When applied in the context of interpreters and programs, it’s called the First Futamura Projection (after Futamura, who proposed it in 1971) 3 Example: Partial Evaluation class ExampleNode { // parameter this in rsi @CompilationFinal boolean flag; normal compilation cmpb [rsi + 16], 0 of method foo() jz L1 int foo() { mov eax, 42 if (this.flag) { ret return 42; L1: mov eax, -1 } else { ret return -1; } } mov rax, 42 Object value of this ret ExampleNode flag: true partial evaluation of method foo() with known parameter this Memory access is eliminated and condition is constant folded during partial evaluation @CompilationFinal field is treated like a final field during partial evaluation Copyright © 2016, Oracle and/or its affiliates. -
Using Language Models to Detect and Correct Syntax Errors
Syntax and Sensibility: Using language models to detect and correct syntax errors Eddie Antonio Santos, Joshua Charles Campbell, Dhvani Patel, Abram Hindle, and José Nelson Amaral Department of Computing Science University of Alberta Edmonton, Alberta, Canada {easantos,joshua2,dhvani,hindle1,jamaral}@ualberta.ca Abstract—Syntax errors are made by novice and experienced Listing 1: Syntactically invalid Java code. An open brace ({) is missing programmers alike; however, novice programmers lack the years at the end of line 3. of experience that help them quickly resolve these frustrating errors. Standard LR parsers are of little help, typically resolving 1 public class A{ public static void main(String args[]) { syntax errors and their precise location poorly. We propose 2 3 if (args.length < 2) a methodology that locates where syntax errors occur, and 4 System.out.println("Not enough args!"); suggests possible changes to the token stream that can fix the 5 System.exit(1); error identified. This methodology finds syntax errors by using 6 } language models trained on correct source code to find tokens 7 System.out.println("Hello, world!"); that seem out of place. Fixes are synthesized by consulting the 8 } language models to determine what tokens are more likely at the 9 } estimated error location. We compare n-gram and LSTM (long short-term memory) language models for this task, each trained input to a Java 8 compiler such as OpenJDK’s javac [4], on a large corpus of Java code collected from GitHub. Unlike and it reports that there is an error with the source file, but it prior work, our methodology does not rely that the problem overwhelms the user with misleading error messages to identify source code comes from the same domain as the training data. -
Rule-Based Program Specialization to Optimize Gradually Typed Code
Rule-based Program Specialization to Optimize Gradually Typed Code Francisco Ortina,∗, Miguel Garciaa, Seán McSweeneyb aUniversity of Oviedo, Computer Science Department, Calvo Sotelo s/n, 33007, Oviedo, Spain bCork Institute of Technology, Department of Computer Science, Rossa Avenue, Bishopstown, Cork, Ireland Abstract Both static and dynamic typing provide different benefits to the programmer. Stati- cally typed languages support earlier type error detection and more opportunities for compiler optimizations. Dynamically typed languages facilitate the development of runtime adaptable applications and rapid prototyping. Since both approaches provide benefits, gradually typed languages support both typing approaches in the very same programming language. Gradual typing has been an active research field in the last years, turning out to be a strong influence on commercial languages. However, one important drawback of gradual typing is the runtime performance cost of the additional type checks performed at runtime. In this article, we propose a rule-based program specialization mechanism to provide significant performance optimizations of gradually typed code. Our system gathers dynamic type information of the application by simulating its execution. That type information is used to optimize the generated code, reducing the number of type checks performed at runtime. Moreover, program specialization allows the early detection of compile-time type errors, providing static type safety. To ensure the correctness of the proposed approach, we prove its soundness and efficiency properties. The specialization system has been implemented as part of a full-fledged programming language, measuring the runtime performance gain. The generated code performs significantly better than the state-of-the-art techniques to optimize dynamically typed code. -
Python for Everybody
Python for Everybody Exploring Data Using Python 3 Charles R. Severance 1.10. WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG? 13 I hate you Python! ^ SyntaxError: invalid syntax >>> if you come out of there, I would teach you a lesson File "<stdin>", line 1 if you come out of there, I would teach you a lesson ^ SyntaxError: invalid syntax >>> There is little to be gained by arguing with Python. It is just a tool. It has no emotions and it is happy and ready to serve you whenever you need it. Its error messages sound harsh, but they are just Python’s call for help. It has looked at what you typed, and it simply cannot understand what you have entered. Python is much more like a dog, loving you unconditionally, having a few key words that it understands, looking you with a sweet look on its face (>>>), and waiting for you to say something it understands. When Python says “SyntaxError: invalid syntax”, it is simply wagging its tail and saying, “You seemed to say something but I just don’t understand what you meant, but please keep talking to me (>>>).” As your programs become increasingly sophisticated, you will encounter three gen- eral types of errors: Syntax errors These are the first errors you will make and the easiest to fix. A syntax error means that you have violated the “grammar” rules of Python. Python does its best to point right at the line and character where it noticed it was confused. The only tricky bit of syntax errors is that sometimes the mistake that needs fixing is actually earlier in the program than where Python noticed it was confused. -
An Integrated Approach to Source Level Debugging and Compile Error Reporting in Metaprograms
Journal of Object Technology Published by AITO — Association Internationale pour les Technologies Objets, c JOT 2011 Online at http://www.jot.fm. An Integrated Approach to Source Level Debugging and Compile Error Reporting in Metaprograms Yannis Lilisa Anthony Savidisab a. Institute of Computer Science, FORTH b. Department of Computer Science, University of Crete Abstract Metaprogramming is an advanced language feature enabling to mix programs with definitions that may be executed either at compile- time or at runtime to generate source code to be put in their place. Such definitions are called metaprograms and their actual evaluation constitutes a compilation stage. As metaprograms are also programs, programmers should be supported in handling compile-time and runtime errors, something introducing challenges to the entire tool chain along two lines. Firstly, the source point of a compile error may well be the outcome of a series of compilation stages, thus never appearing within the original program. Effectively, the latter requires a compiler to track down the error chain across all involved stages so as to provide a meaningful, descriptive and precise error report. Secondly, every compilation stage is instantiated by the execution of the respective staged program. Thus, typical full-fledged source-level debugging for any particular stage should be facilitated during the compilation process. Existing implementations suffer in both terms, overall providing poor error messages, while lacking the required support for debugging metaprograms of any staging depth. In this paper, we outline the implementation of a compile-time metaprogramming system offering all aforementioned facilities. Then, we detail the required amendments to the compilation process and the necessary interaction between the compiler and the tool-chain (IDE). -
Syntax Errors Just Aren't Natural: Improving Error Reporting With
Syntax Errors Just Aren’t Natural: Improving Error Reporting with Language Models Joshua Charles Abram Hindle José Nelson Amaral Campbell Department of Computing Department of Computing Department of Computing Science Science Science University of Alberta University of Alberta University of Alberta Edmonton, Canada Edmonton, Canada Edmonton, Canada [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] ABSTRACT programmers get frustrated by syntax errors, often resorting A frustrating aspect of software development is that com- to erratically commenting their code out in the hope that piler error messages often fail to locate the actual cause of they discover the location of the error that brought their a syntax error. An errant semicolon or brace can result in development to a screeching halt [14]. Syntax errors are many errors reported throughout the file. We seek to find annoying to programmers, and sometimes very hard to find. the actual source of these syntax errors by relying on the con- Garner et al. [4] admit that “students very persistently sistency of software: valid source code is usually repetitive keep seeking assistance for problems with basic syntactic de- and unsurprising. We exploit this consistency by construct- tails.” They, corroborated by numerous other studies [11, 12, ing a simple N-gram language model of lexed source code 10, 17], found that errors related to basic mechanics (semi- tokens. We implemented an automatic Java syntax-error lo- colons, braces, etc.) were the most persistent and common cator using the corpus of the project itself and evaluated its problems that beginner programmers faced. In fact these performance on mutated source code from several projects.