Expert system for extracting syntactic information from Java code

Abstract

Abstract During the implementation phase of the development cycle, the detection of specific syntax, code convention and design errors can potentially reduce the long term maintenance effort. Ideally these error checks should be performed throughout this entire phase, since delaying their detection can result in increased maintenance costs. However, for this to be achieved, the required syntactic and structural information must be extracted from the code, at all levels of completeness. For many tools, this information extraction cannot be achieved until the code is near completion. This problem is also encountered by Intelligent Tutoring Systems, which monitor and guide the user throughout the entire programming process via interactive sessions. This paper introduces, CITOR, C ode I nformation Extrac tor , an expert system designed to extract syntax and structural information from partially complete or incorrect Java code. The information can then be used by development tools to provide various checks in real-time.