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ECOOP
2010
Springer

Embedding Languages without Breaking Tools

13 years 8 months ago
Embedding Languages without Breaking Tools
Domain-specific languages (DSLs) are increasingly used as embedded languages within general-purpose host languages. DSLs provide a compact, dedicated syntax for specifying parts of an application related to specialized domains. Unfortunately, such language extensions typically do not integrate well with the development tools of the host language. Editors, compilers and debuggers are either unaware of the extensions, or must be adapted at a non-trivial cost. We present a novel approach to embed DSLs into an existing host language by leveraging the underlying representation of the host language used by these tools. Helvetia is an extensible system that intercepts the compilation pipeline of the Smalltalk host language to seamlessly integrate language extensions. We validate our approach by case studies that demonstrate three fundamentally different ways to extend or adapt the host language syntax and semantics.
Lukas Renggli, Tudor Gîrba, Oscar Nierstrasz
Added 12 Aug 2010
Updated 12 Aug 2010
Type Conference
Year 2010
Where ECOOP
Authors Lukas Renggli, Tudor Gîrba, Oscar Nierstrasz
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