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Embedding Languages without Breaking Tools

  • Conference paper
ECOOP 2010 – Object-Oriented Programming (ECOOP 2010)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNPSE,volume 6183))

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Abstract

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.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Software Composition Group, University of Bern, Switzerland

    Lukas Renggli, Tudor Gîrba & Oscar Nierstrasz

Authors
  1. Lukas Renggli
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  2. Tudor Gîrba
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  3. Oscar Nierstrasz
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Software Languages Lab, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050, Brussels, Belgium

    Theo D’Hondt

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Renggli, L., Gîrba, T., Nierstrasz, O. (2010). Embedding Languages without Breaking Tools. In: D’Hondt, T. (eds) ECOOP 2010 – Object-Oriented Programming. ECOOP 2010. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 6183. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-14107-2_19

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-14107-2_19

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-14106-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-14107-2

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