Year: 2023
Type: preprint
Abstract: Rust is a programming language that uses a concept of ownership to guarantee memory safety without the use of a garbage collector. However, some error messages related to ownership can be difficult to understand and fix, particularly those that depend on value lifetimes. To help developers fix lifetime-related errors, we developed REVIS, a VSCode extension that visualizes lifetime-related Rust compiler errors. We describe the design and implementation of the VSCode extension, along with a preliminary evaluation of its efficacy for student learners of Rust. Although the number of participants was too low to enable evaluation of the efficacy of REVIS, we gathered data regarding the prevalence and time to fix the compiler errors that the participants encountered.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Authors: Wang, Ruochen, Maclaren, Molly, Coblenz, Michael
Institution: University of California San Diego
Language: English
Subfield: Computer Science Applications
Field: Computer Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4386793413