A module system for domain-specific languages

DOI10.1017/S1471068414000337MaRDI QIDQ2931279zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Ethan K. Jackson

Publication date 25 November 2014

Published in Theory and Practice of Logic Programming (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1405.4041

zbMATH Keywords

domain-specific languageslogic programmingmodule systems

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Theory of programming languages (68N15) Logic programming (68N17)

Abstract: Domain-specific languages (DSLs) are routinely created to simplify difficult or specialized programming tasks. They expose useful abstractions and design patterns in the form of language constructs, provide static semantics to eagerly detect misuse of these constructs, and dynamic semantics to completely define how language constructs interact. However, implementing and composing DSLs is a non-trivial task, and there is a lack of tools and techniques. We address this problem by presenting a complete module system over LP for DSL construction, reuse, and composition. LP is already useful for DSL design, because it supports executable language specifications using notations familiar to language designers. We extend LP with a module system that is simple (with a few concepts), succinct (for key DSL specification scenarios), and composable (on the level of languages, compilers, and programs). These design choices reflect our use of LP for industrial DSL design. Our module system has been implemented in the FORMULA language, and was used to build key Windows 8 device drivers via DSLs. Though we present our module system as it actually appears in our FORMULA language, our emphasis is on concepts adaptable to other LP languages.

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Cites work

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• Modular programming languages. Joint modular languages conference, JMLC 2003, Klagenfurt, Austria, August 25--27, 2003. Proceedings.
• The Design and Implementation of SPARK, a Toolkit for Implementing Domain-Specific Languages
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