GPTutor: an open-source AI pair programming tool alternative to Copilot

This paper presents the latest progress of GPTutor: a ChatGPT-powered programming tool extension in Visual Studio Code. The emergence of Large Language Models (LLMs) has improved software development efficiency, but their performance can be hindered by training data limitations and prompt design issues. Existing LLM development tools often operate as black boxes, with users unable to view the prompts used and unable to improve performance by correcting prompts when errors occur. To address the aforementioned issues, GPTutor was introduced as an open-source AI pair programming tool, offering an alternative to Copilot. GPTutor empowers users to customize prompts for various programming languages and scenarios, with support for 120+ human languages and 50+ programming languages. Users can fine-tune prompts to correct the errors from LLM for precision and efficient code generation. At the end of the paper, we underscore GPTutor's potential through examples, including demonstrating its proficiency in interpreting and generating Sui-Move, a newly introduced smart contract language, using prompt engineering

Interactive specification and verification of behavioral adaptation contracts

International audienceContext. Adaptation is a crucial issue when building new applications by reusing existing software services which were not initially designed to interoperate with each other. Adaptation contracts describe composition constraints and adaptation requirements among these services. The writing of this specification by a designer is a difficult and error-prone task, especially when interaction protocols are considered in service interfaces. Objective. In this article, we propose a tool-based, interactive approach to support the contract design process. Method. Our approach includes: (i) a graphical notation to define port bindings, and an interface compatibility measure to compare protocols and suggest some port connections to the designer, (ii) compositional and hierarchical techniques to facilitate the specification of adaptation contracts by building them incrementally, (iii) validation and verification techniques to check that the contract will make the involved services work correctly and as expected by the designer. Results. Our results show a reduction both in the amount of effort that the designer has to put into building the contract, as well as in the number of errors present in the final result (noticeably higher in the case of manual specification). Conclusion. We conclude that it is important to provide integrated tool support for the specification and verification of adaptation contracts, since their incorrect specification induces erroneous executions of the system. To the best of our knowledge, such tool support has not been provided by any other approach so far, and hence we consider the techniques described in this paper as an important contribution to the area of behavioral software adaptation

iDREAM: a multidisciplinary methodology and integrated toolset for flight vehicle engineering

Rapid prototyping of flight vehicle engineering needs the use of two key elements: the data from the different building blocks and the required engineering tools to design vital subsystems of the flight vehicle. Politecnico di Torino in the framework of the I-DREAM, a GSTP contract carried out under the supervision of the European Space Agency (ESA), has developed a unique multidisciplinary methodology and integrated toolset able to support the rapid prototyping of a wide range of aerospace vehicles. iDREAM allows complementing the conceptual design activities with the economic viability and technological sustainability assessments. In detail, the iDREAM methodology consists of four main modules that can be used in a stand-alone mode and in an integrated activity flow, exploiting the implemented automatic connections. The first module consists of a well-structured MySQL database developed to support all the other modules, thanks to a unified connection guaranteed by an ad-hoc developed Database Management Library managing the operations of data input and output from/to the database throughout the tool modules. The second module consists of a vehicle design routine and a mission design routine, supporting the design of a new vehicle and mission concept and assessing the main performance of an already existing configuration. The vehicle design routine is called ASTRID-H, and it is the latest version of an in-house conceptual design tool integrating capabilities ranging from high-speed aircraft to lunar-landers design. The vehicle design routine automatically interfaces with ASTOS, a commercial software environment used for mission analysis optimization. Automatic interactions between the two routines inside the module have been ad-hoc developed and tested to guarantee good accuracy of the results. The third module consists of the economic viability module. Once the design is defined, it is possible to run a subsystem-level cost estimation. Using the subsystems’ masses estimated in the design routine, the parametric cost model provides useful insights on the potential development, manufacturing, and operating costs, as well as the cost and price per flight. Eventually, the developed methodology gives the possibility to generate a technology roadmap (fourth module). Supported by a database connection, the tool estimates each technology readiness and risk assessment, along with an indication of the necessary activities, missions, and future works. This paper describes the methodology and the integrated toolset in flight vehicle engineering of Microlaunchers. Eventually, the Electron mission would be used as a benchmark and validation study to showcase the tool’s results and accuracy for preliminary design studies