Is it Still Worth the Cost to Teach Compiling in 2020 ? a Pedagogical Experience Through Hortensias Compiler and Virtual Machine

With the disruption produced by extensive automation of automation due to advanced research in machine learning, and auto machine learning, even in programming language translation, the main goal of this paper is to discuss the following question Is it still worth the cost to teach compiling in 2020 ?. Our paper defends the Yes answer within software engineering majors. The paper also shares the experience of teaching compiling techniques course best practices since more than 15 years, presents and evaluates this experience through Hortensias, a pedagogical compiling laboratory platform providing a language compiler and a virtual machine. Hortensias is a multilingual pedagogical platform for learning end teaching how to build compilers front and back-end. Hortensias language offers the possibility to the programmer to customise the compiler associativity management, visualise the intermediary representations of compiled code, or customise the optimisation management, and the error management language for international students communities. Hortensias offers the possibility to the beginner programmer to use a graphical user interface to program by clicking. Hortensias compiling pedagogy evaluation has been conducted through two surveys involving in a voluntarily basis engineering students and alumni during one week. It targeted two null hypothesis : the first null hypothesis supposes that compiling teaching is becoming outdated with regards to current curricula evolution, and the second null hypothesis supposes Hortensias compiling based pedagogy has no impact neither on understanding nor on implementing compilers and interpreters. During fifteen years of teaching compiler engineering, Hortensias was a wonderful pedagogic experiment either for teaching and for learning, since vulgarising abstract concepts becomes very easier for teachers, lectures follow a gamification-like approach, and students become efficient in delivering versions of their compiler software product in a fast pace.