DSL Engineering: Designing, Implementing and Using Domain-Specific Languages

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

Markus Voelter works as a researcher, consultant and coach for software architecture, model-driven software development, domain-specific languages and product line engineering. He has worked in entreprise, web and embedded systems. He lives in Stuttgart, Germany and spends his free time flying gliders and recording podcasts. Get in touch with Markus via http: //www.voelter.de, voelter@acm.org or @markusvoelter