My Compiler Really Understands Me: An Adaptive Programming Language Tutor

Abstract

We describe an intelligent interactive online tutor for computer languages. The tutor uses an ontology of programming language terms together with a language-specific ontology. These ontologies are embedded in web pages structured at different levels of student expertise to provide a web front end that can be re-assembled in many different ways to suit a particular student’s attempt to compile a particular program. This dynamic reassembly copes well with the initial learning curve for a language as well as revision a few months later. We argue that such a dynamic solution is more appropriate in this case than user profiling as a student’s capabilities are not the same for all parts of the language to be learnt or from one session to the next. Our system gives the student control over the learning process by the use of question answering techniques on the same ontology. Our system tracks what the user is doing in the programming exercises to understand what they are trying to write. Early trials with a real student audience have produced positive results and feedback for more research.