Challenges and Opportunities of Modularizing Textual Domain-Specific Languages

Christoph Rieger, Martin Westerkamp, Herbert Kuchen

2018

Abstract

Over time, domain-specific languages (DSL) tend to grow beyond the initial scope in order to provide new features. In addition, many fundamental language concepts are reimplemented over and over again. This raises questions regarding opportunities of DSL modularization for improving software quality and fostering language reuse – similar to challenges traditional programming languages face but further complicated by the surrounding editing infrastructure and model transformations. Mature frameworks for developing textual DSLs such as Xtext provide a wealth of features but have only recently considered support for language composition. We therefore perform a case study on a large-scale DSL for model-driven development of mobile applications called MD2, and review the current state of DSL composition techniques. Subsequently, challenges and advantages of modularizing MD2 are discussed and generalized recommendations are provided.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Rieger C., Westerkamp M. and Kuchen H. (2018). Challenges and Opportunities of Modularizing Textual Domain-Specific Languages.In Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Model-Driven Engineering and Software Development - Volume 1: MODELSWARD, ISBN 978-989-758-283-7, pages 387-395. DOI: 10.5220/0006601903870395

in Bibtex Style

@conference{modelsward18,
author={Christoph Rieger and Martin Westerkamp and Herbert Kuchen},
title={Challenges and Opportunities of Modularizing Textual Domain-Specific Languages},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Model-Driven Engineering and Software Development - Volume 1: MODELSWARD,},
year={2018},
pages={387-395},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0006601903870395},
isbn={978-989-758-283-7},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Model-Driven Engineering and Software Development - Volume 1: MODELSWARD,
TI - Challenges and Opportunities of Modularizing Textual Domain-Specific Languages
SN - 978-989-758-283-7
AU - Rieger C.
AU - Westerkamp M.
AU - Kuchen H.
PY - 2018
SP - 387
EP - 395
DO - 10.5220/0006601903870395