DSL Tools in Visual Studio

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DSL Tools in Visual Studio

• Stuart Kent
• Senior Program Manager
• Visual Studio Team System DSL Tools
• http//blogs.msdn.com/stuart_kent
• http//lab.msdn.microsoft.com/vs2005/teamsystem/wo
  rkshop/dsltools/

DSL Domain Specific Language
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What is a domain?
Business Systems
Real-Time Systems
Requirements
Aircraft control systems
Airline Baggage Handling Systems
Insurance Management Systems
Specification
Implementation
Deployment
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What is a language?
Declarative
agtb cd
ltCallRecordgt ltcallergtltnumbergt07713248lt/numbergt
Textual
Pictorial
class Magnox NuclearPowerStation public
void dropRods ()
Procedural
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Domain Specific Languages (DSLs) make problems
Small Scale

• Small scale
• Not much design beyond existing platform
• ?
• easy to understand
• agile
• small team
• early prototypes
• easy maintenance
• changes inexpensive

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Finding prime numbers is Small Scale

• If we have a system that can
• do multiplication and division
• do things repeatedly

language
platform
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Finding parts lists is Small Scale

• If we have a system that can
• keep large lists of parts scan them quickly
• combine and filter the lists efficiently

CREATE
JOIN WHERE
SELECT
platform
language
Relational Database
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Developing a GUI is Small Scale

• If we have a system that can
• display combinations of windows and widgets
• show things and interact with user in them

language
platform
Visual programming languages
Interactive app platform
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Phone billing systems are Small Scale

• if we have a language of phone billing
• and a platform to run it on

Phone Billing Engine
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Using a domain specific language
customer
tablet PC
customer -facing developer
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Other things you can do
prototype for review
animator
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Other inputs to generation
functional model
refine
prototype for review
animator
functional modelrefined/augmented for performance
phone bill system
generator
data model
existing api model
etc
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Mind The Gap DSLs Code Generation
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What are (could) DSLs (be) used for?

• To write models that drive code generators
• Configuring code frameworks, configuring
  deployment
• DSL unifies points of variability scattered
  amongst artefacts
• Delivers software product lines
• To write interpreted configuration files
• Often expressed in XML
• To provide a domain-specific abstractions for the
  purposes of
• Simulation/animation
• Monitoring system execution
• What-if analysis
• Metric taking
• Generating business plans and reports
• As part of a software factory
• Combines all of the above

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How are DSLs implemented now?

• XML
• Syntax very raw, no graphics
• Validation weak
• Multiple cross-referencing docs are difficult to
  manage
• N.B. Required for large models in a team
  environment
• UML profiles (UML stereotypes / tagged values)
• XML persistence ugly hard to handle
• Stereotypes / tagged values not very powerful
• UML profiles can bear little semantic resemblance
  to mainstream UML
• Game of square peg in round hole
• Packaging in UML is not so conducive to working
  with large models in a team environment

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How are DSLs implemented now?

• MOF/EMF
• Deals with conceptual aspects of language
• Rest of designer/editor is hand-coded
• In meta-environments
• Releases a meta-monster that can be hard to tame
• Often doesnt scale to large models in a team
  environment
• Tools not integrated into familiar IDEs

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DSL Tools in Visual Studio V1

• To make it cost-effective to develop
  DSL-specific, visual designers hosted in Visual
  Studio
• For SIs large enterprises (at least)
• For a particular class of DSLs
• In a way that makes the model data easily
  accessible by automation tools, that are easy to
  author using XML and/or .Net technology
• In a way that enables working with large models
  in a team environment
• To make it cost-effective to author DSL-driven
  code/artefact generators

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Mainline scenario
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Demo

• Well build a designer from scratch
• Heres a screenshot of the target designer

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DSL Tools in Visual Studio

• Stuart Kent
• Senior Program Manager
• Visual Studio Team System DSL Tools
• http//blogs.msdn.com/stuart_kent
• http//lab.msdn.microsoft.com/vs2005/teamsystem/wo
  rkshop/dsltools/