Lisptutor Jr

The original lisptutor was developed at Carnegie Mellon University by Reiser, Anderson, Corbett, Farrell and others. Lisptutor Jr is a simplified version of the system, but it is still used by many people interested in learning the classic language for Artificial Intelligence: LISP.

When it was threatened with extinction (due to the demise of Hypercard), I created (in Lisp, of course!) a somewhat simplified web-based version. The original version used a model-tracing approach to follow students as they solved problems and gained skills. Lisptutor Jr uses a pattern matcher to compare student answers to expected answers. The system has been used by students in my Symbolic Programming courses, and by thousands of Lisp learners around the world.

I have mostly been using this as a teaching tool, but it does offer some possibilities for addressing research questions as well. One basic question involves a comparison of the system's "traditional" and "mastery" modes. The former presents instructive texts and then related exercises in much the same way as the original system did. The mastery version lets the learner pick and choose which texts to read and which problems to focus on, and shows their overall progress in its skillometer.

The system is available at https://alarm.cdm.depaul.edu/lisptutor/. Make a (unique) login ID for yourself, and give it a try.