CRII: SHF: Systematic Construction of Teaching Language Progressions for Embedded Domain-Specific Languages

The project explores the development of teaching language progressions for Embedded Domain-Specific Languages (EDSLs), focusing on making programming more accessible to novice learners. It addresses the challenging transition from basic programming to advanced EDSLs. The project's novelties are its approach to simplify EDSLs into starter versions, gradually introducing complexity, and its methodology to construct these teaching languages by repurposing existing EDSL components. The project's impacts are significant, aiming to democratize programming education and enhance learners' grasp of complex programming languages, ultimately contributing to a more inclusive and skilled programming community. In a more technical scope, the project employs a structured approach to create two tailored teaching EDSLs (tEDSLs), specifically for algebraic pattern matching and constraint logic programming. These tEDSLs are designed to evolve in complexity, aligning with the learners' growing proficiency. The investigator will conduct a pilot study with novice students to evaluate the effectiveness of these tEDSLs, assessing both learning outcomes and engagement levels. This endeavor is expected to yield significant advances in programming language design and computer science education, fostering an easier transition for learners to master expert-level EDSLs and potentially shaping future pedagogical strategies in programming education. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.