DSLs: the good, the bad, and the ugly

ABSTRACT

A resurging interest in domain-specific languages (DSLs) has identified the benefits to be realized from customized languages that provide a high-level of abstraction for specifying a problem concept in a particular domain. Although there has been much success reported by industry practitioners and academic researchers, there is much more work that is needed to enable further adoption of DSLs. The goal of this panel is to separate the hype from the true advantages that DSLs provide. The panel discussion will offer insight into the nature of DSL design, implementation, and application and summarize the collective experience of the panel in successful deployment of DSLs. As a counterpoint to the current benefits of DSLs, the panel will provide a fair and balanced assessment of the current state of the art of DSLs by pointing to the existing limitations and future work that is needed to take the concept of DSLs to further heights. The assembled panelists are experts in the research and practice of DSLs and represent diverse views and backgrounds. The panel is made up of industrial researchers, commercial tool vendors, and academic researchers. The panelists have different perspectives on the technical concerns of DSLs; for example, half of the panelists are proponents of textual DSLs and the other half of the panel has experience in graphical notations representing visual languages.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  D. Software
  D.3 PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES
      D.3.3 Language Constructs and Features

Additional Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
      D.2.6 Programming Environments

General Terms:
Design, Languages

Keywords:
domain-specific languages, grammarware, metamodeling