{"ID":2886484,"CreatedAt":"2026-06-01T04:54:23.091178241Z","UpdatedAt":"2026-06-01T04:54:23.091178241Z","DeletedAt":null,"paper_url":"https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.03639","arxiv_id":"2508.03639","title":"A Design Recipe and Recipe-Based Errors for Regular Expressions","abstract":"This article presents a novel framework to provide Formal Languages and Automata Theory students design support for the development of regular expressions. This framework includes a design recipe for regular expressions and a customized error messaging system. The error messaging system produces recipe-based errors that include the step of the design recipe not successfully completed. Furthermore, the error messages follow the established practices of being concise, succinct, jargon-free, and nonprescriptive. In addition, a shorthand syntax developed for writing unit tests is described. The in-class use of the design recipe is illustrated, two debugging sessions using the described system are discussed, and the implementation of the error messaging system is briefly sketched.","short_abstract":"This article presents a novel framework to provide Formal Languages and Automata Theory students design support for the development of regular expressions. This framework includes a design recipe for regular expressions and a customized error messaging system. The error messaging system produces recipe-based errors tha...","url_abs":"https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.03639","url_pdf":"https://arxiv.org/pdf/2508.03639v1","authors":"[\"Marco T. Morazán\",\"Shamil Dzhatdoyev\",\"Josephine Des Rosiers\",\"Tijana Minić\",\"Andrés M. Garced\",\"David Anthony K. Fields\"]","published":"2025-08-05T16:53:33Z","proceeding":"cs.FL","tasks":"[\"cs.FL\",\"cs.HC\",\"cs.PL\",\"cs.SE\"]","methods":"[]","has_code":false}