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Extensible Languages: Blurring the Distinction between DSL and GPL

Extensible Languages: Blurring the Distinction between DSL and GPL

Didier Verna
Copyright: © 2013 |Pages: 31
ISBN13: 9781466620926|ISBN10: 1466620927|EISBN13: 9781466620933
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-2092-6.ch001
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MLA

Verna, Didier. "Extensible Languages: Blurring the Distinction between DSL and GPL." Formal and Practical Aspects of Domain-Specific Languages: Recent Developments, edited by Marjan Mernik, IGI Global, 2013, pp. 1-31. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-4666-2092-6.ch001

APA

Verna, D. (2013). Extensible Languages: Blurring the Distinction between DSL and GPL. In M. Mernik (Ed.), Formal and Practical Aspects of Domain-Specific Languages: Recent Developments (pp. 1-31). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-4666-2092-6.ch001

Chicago

Verna, Didier. "Extensible Languages: Blurring the Distinction between DSL and GPL." In Formal and Practical Aspects of Domain-Specific Languages: Recent Developments, edited by Marjan Mernik, 1-31. Hershey, PA: IGI Global, 2013. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-4666-2092-6.ch001

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Abstract

Out of a concern for focus and concision, domain-specific languages (DSLs) are usually very different from general purpose programming languages (GPLs), both at the syntactic and the semantic levels. One approach to DSL implementation is to write a full language infrastructure, including parser, interpreter, or even compiler. Another approach however, is to ground the DSL into an extensible GPL, giving you control over its own syntax and semantics. The DSL may then be designed merely as an extension to the original GPL, and its implementation may boil down to expressing only the differences with it. The task of DSL implementation is hence considerably eased. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a tour of the features that make a GPL extensible, and to demonstrate how, in this context, the distinction between DSL and GPL can blur, sometimes to the point of complete disappearance.

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