When carefully selected and used, Domain-Specific Languages (DSLs) may simplify complex code, promote effective communication with customers, improve productivity, and unclog development bottlenecks. In Domain-Specific Languages, noted software development expert Martin Fowler first provides the information software professionals need to decide if and when to utilize DSLs. Then, where DSLs prove suitable, Fowler presents effective techniques for building them, and guides software engineers in choosing the right approaches for their applications. This book’s techniques may be utilized with most modern object-oriented languages; the author provides numerous examples in Java and C#, as well as selected examples in Ruby. Wherever possible, chapters are organized to be self-standing, and most reference topics are presented in a familiar patterns format. Armed with this wide-ranging book, developers will have the knowledge they need to make important decisions about DSLs—and, where appropriate, gain the significant technical and business benefits they offer. The topics covered include: How DSLs compare to frameworks and libraries, and when those alternatives are sufficient Using parsers and parser generators, and parsing external DSLs Understanding, comparing, and choosing DSL language constructs Determining whether to use code generation, and comparing code generation strategies Previewing new language workbench tools for creating DSLs

"This book presents current research on all aspects of domain-specific language for scholars and practitioners in the software engineering fields, providing new results and answers to open problems in DSL research"--

This book covers several topics related to domain-specific language (DSL) engineering in general and how they can be handled by means of the JetBrains Meta Programming System (MPS), an open source language workbench developed by JetBrains over the last 15 years. The book begins with an overview of the domain of language workbenches, which provides perspectives and motivations underpinning the creation of MPS. Moreover, technical details of the language underneath MPS together with the definition of the tool’s main features are discussed. The remaining ten chapters are then organized in three parts, each dedicated to a specific aspect of the topic. Part I “MPS in Industrial Applications” deals with the challenges and inadequacies of general-purpose languages used in companies, as opposed to the reasons why DSLs are essential, together with their benefits and efficiency, and summarizes lessons learnt by using MPS. Part II about “MPS in Research Projects” covers the benefits of text-based languages, the design and development of gamification applications, and research fields with generally low expertise in language engineering. Eventually, Part III focuses on “Teaching and Learning with MPS” by discussing the organization of both commercial and academic courses on MPS. MPS is used to implement languages for real-world use. Its distinguishing feature is projectional editing, which supports practically unlimited language extension and composition possibilities as well as a flexible mix of a wide range of textual, tabular, mathematical and graphical notations. The number and diversity of the presented use-cases demonstrate the strength and malleability of the DSLs defined using MPS. The selected contributions represent the current state of the art and practice in using JetBrains MPS to implement languages for real-world applications.

Software practitioners are rapidly discovering the immense value of Domain-Specific Languages (DSLs) in solving problems within clearly definable problem domains. Developers are applying DSLs to improve productivity and quality in a wide range of areas, such as finance, combat simulation, macro scripting, image generation, and more. But until now, there have been few practical resources that explain how DSLs work and how to construct them for optimal use. Software Language Engineering fills that need. Written by expert DSL consultant Anneke Kleppe, this is the first comprehensive guide to successful DSL design. Kleppe systematically introduces and explains every ingredient of an effective language specification, including its description of concepts, how those concepts are denoted, and what those concepts mean in relation to the problem domain. Kleppe carefully illuminates good design strategy, showing how to maximize the flexibility of the languages you create. She also demonstrates powerful techniques for creating new DSLs that cooperate well with general-purpose languages and leverage their power. Completely tool-independent, this book can serve as the primary resource for readers using Microsoft DSL tools, the Eclipse Modeling Framework, openArchitectureWare, or any other DSL toolset. It contains multiple examples, an illustrative running case study, and insights and background information drawn from Kleppe’s leading-edge work as a DSL researcher. Specific topics covered include Discovering the types of problems that DSLs can solve, and when to use them Comparing DSLs with general-purpose languages, frameworks, APIs, and other approaches Understanding the roles and tools available to language users and engineers Creating each component of a DSL specification Modeling both concrete and abstract syntax Understanding and describing language semantics Defining textual and visual languages based on object-oriented metamodeling and graph transformations Using metamodels and associated tools to generate grammars Integrating object-oriented modeling with graph theory Building code generators for new languages Supporting multilanguage models and programs This book provides software engineers with all the guidance they need to create DSLs that solve real problems more rapidly, and with higher-quality code.

Domain-Specific Languages (DSLs)--languages geared to specific vertical or horizontal areas of interest--are generating growing excitement from software engineers and architects. DSLs bring new agility to the creation and evolution of software, allowing selected design aspects to be expressed in terms much closer to the system requirements than standard program code, significantly reducing development costs in large-scale projects and product lines. In this breakthrough book, four leading experts reveal exactly how DSLs work, and how you can make the most of them in your environment. With Domain-Specific Development with Visual Studio DSL Tools, you'll begin by mastering DSL concepts and techniques that apply to all platforms. Next, you'll discover how to create and use DSLs with the powerful new Microsoft DSL Tools--a toolset designed by this book's authors. Learn how the DSL Tools integrate into Visual Studio--and how to define DSLs and generate Visual Designers using Visual Studio's built-in modeling technology. In-depth coverage includes Determining whether DSLs will work for you Comparing DSLs with other approaches to model-driven development Defining, tuning, and evolving DSLs: models, presentation, creation, updates, serialization, constraints, validation, and more Creating Visual Designers for new DSLs with little or no coding Multiplying productivity by generating application code from your models with easy-to-use text templates Automatically generating configuration files, resources, and other artifacts Deploying Visual Designers across the organization, quickly and easily Customizing Visual Designers for specialized process needs List of Figures List of Tables Foreword Preface About the Authors Chapter 1 Domain-Specific Development Chapter 2 Creating and Using DSLs Chapter 3 Domain Model Definition Chapter 4 Presentation Chapter 5 Creation, Deletion, and Update Behavior Chapter 6 Serialization Chapter 7 Constraints and Validation Chapter 8 Generating Artifacts Chapter 9 Deploying a DSL Chapter 10 Advanced DSL Customization Chapter 11 Designing a DSL Index

Learn to build configuration file readers, data readers, model-driven code generators, source-to-source translators, source analyzers, and interpreters. You don't need a background in computer science--ANTLR creator Terence Parr demystifies language implementation by breaking it down into the most common design patterns. Pattern by pattern, you'll learn the key skills you need to implement your own computer languages. Knowing how to create domain-specific languages (DSLs) can give you a huge productivity boost. Instead of writing code in a general-purpose programming language, you can first build a custom language tailored to make you efficient in a particular domain. The key is understanding the common patterns found across language implementations. Language Design Patterns identifies and condenses the most common design patterns, providing sample implementations of each. The pattern implementations use Java, but the patterns themselves are completely general. Some of the implementations use the well-known ANTLR parser generator, so readers will find this book an excellent source of ANTLR examples as well. But this book will benefit anyone interested in implementing languages, regardless of their tool of choice. Other language implementation books focus on compilers, which you rarely need in your daily life. Instead, Language Design Patterns shows you patterns you can use for all kinds of language applications. You'll learn to create configuration file readers, data readers, model-driven code generators, source-to-source translators, source analyzers, and interpreters. Each chapter groups related design patterns and, in each pattern, you'll get hands-on experience by building a complete sample implementation. By the time you finish the book, you'll know how to solve most common language implementation problems.

The definitive resource on domain-specific languages: based on years of real-world experience, relying on modern language workbenches and full of examples. Domain-Specific Languages are programming languages specialized for a particular application domain. By incorporating knowledge about that domain, DSLs can lead to more concise and more analyzable programs, better code quality and increased development speed. This book provides a thorough introduction to DSL, relying on today's state of the art language workbenches. The book has four parts: introduction, DSL design, DSL implementation as well as the role of DSLs in various aspects of software engineering. Part I Introduction: This part introduces DSLs in general and discusses their advantages and drawbacks. It also defines important terms and concepts and introduces the case studies used in the most of the remainder of the book. Part II DSL Design: This part discusses the design of DSLs - independent of implementation techniques. It reviews seven design dimensions, explains a number of reusable language paradigms and points out a number of process-related issues. Part III DSL Implementation: This part provides details about the implementation of DSLs with lots of code. It uses three state-of-the-art but quite different language workbenches: JetBrains MPS, Eclipse Xtext and TU Delft's Spoofax. Part IV DSLs and Software Engineering: This part discusses the use of DSLs for requirements, architecture, implementation and product line engineering, as well as their roles as a developer utility and for implementing business logic. The book is available as a printed version (the one your are looking at) and as a PDF. For details see the book's companion website at http: //dslbook.org