Grammar Verification for Students: A Grammar Design Recipe with Verification Steps

Marco T. Morazán

2025

Abstract

Formal Languages and Automata Theory courses introduce students to grammars as formal systems to generate words in a language. Although grammars appear conceptually simple, students struggle to develop them given that production rules are nondeterministically applied, which leads to uncertainty about grammar correctness. This struggle may be mitigated by offering students a framework for grammar design. This article advocates that such a framework may be provided using a design recipe in a programming-based approach to Formal Languages and Automata Theory. It puts forth a novel initiative to include grammar verification in such courses. The proposed approach is outlined and illustrated using an extended example. Reflections on expectations and on why the initiative can be successful are presented.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Morazán M. (2025). Grammar Verification for Students: A Grammar Design Recipe with Verification Steps. In Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Computer Supported Education - Volume 2: CSEDU; ISBN 978-989-758-746-7, SciTePress, pages 662-669. DOI: 10.5220/0013216500003932

in Bibtex Style

@conference{csedu25,
author={Marco Morazán},
title={Grammar Verification for Students: A Grammar Design Recipe with Verification Steps},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Computer Supported Education - Volume 2: CSEDU},
year={2025},
pages={662-669},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0013216500003932},
isbn={978-989-758-746-7},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Computer Supported Education - Volume 2: CSEDU
TI - Grammar Verification for Students: A Grammar Design Recipe with Verification Steps
SN - 978-989-758-746-7
AU - Morazán M.
PY - 2025
SP - 662
EP - 669
DO - 10.5220/0013216500003932
PB - SciTePress