JFLAP Extensions for Instructors and Students

JFLAP is a popular open-source software tool used in Formal Languages and Automata courses. In this paper, we present two kinds of enhancements to JFLAP's capabilities with regards to finite automata: (1) we provide instructors with the ability to understand difficulties faced by students on an individual and collective basis by tracking student progress as they solve automata construction problems, and (2) we offer students a simple and intuitive means to specify correctness of their automata constructions, and a mechanism to easily test their automata against such correctness specifications. We believe that these extensions enhance the value of JFLAP as a resource for both instructors and students.