Automated Pascal Syntactic Debugging: The Semicolon Expected Error

This work presents a portion of research involved in automating the debugging process of syntax errors. The particular process being developed is one in which a knowledge-based system searches a Turbo Pascal source program looking for the particular instruction and reason which caused a given syntax error. The search process combines the Generic Tasks of Hierarchical Classification, Routine Recognition and Data Inferencing. This paper concentrates on a small version of the automated system that debugs the "semicolon expected" error. First, the paper will describe the methodology for automating the debugging process, and then focus on the knowledge required for this particular error. It will examine several program excerpts and demonstrate how the system debugs each example. Introduction Consider an introductory programming student who is faced with the syntax error "semicolon expected" when compiling their Turbo Pascal program. What is their response? A typical student might add a ";"..