A Domain-Specific Language and Editor for Parallel Particle Methods

Domain-specific languages (DSLs) are of increasing importance in scientific high-performance computing to reduce development costs, raise the level of abstraction and, thus, ease scientific programming. However, designing and implementing DSLs is not an easy task, as it requires knowledge of the application domain and experience in language engineering and compilers. Consequently, many DSLs follow a weak approach using macros or text generators, which lack many of the features that make a DSL a comfortable for programmers. Some of these features---e.g., syntax highlighting, type inference, error reporting, and code completion---are easily provided by language workbenches, which combine language engineering techniques and tools in a common ecosystem. In this paper, we present the Parallel Particle-Mesh Environment (PPME), a DSL and development environment for numerical simulations based on particle methods and hybrid particle-mesh methods. PPME uses the meta programming system (MPS), a projectional language workbench. PPME is the successor of the Parallel Particle-Mesh Language (PPML), a Fortran-based DSL that used conventional implementation strategies. We analyze and compare both languages and demonstrate how the programmer's experience can be improved using static analyses and projectional editing. Furthermore, we present an explicit domain model for particle abstractions and the first formal type system for particle methods.Comment: Submitted to ACM Transactions on Mathematical Software on Dec. 25, 201

Specifying Software Languages: Grammars, Projectional Editors, and Unconventional Approaches

We discuss several approaches for defining software languages, together with Integrated Development Environments for them. Theoretical foundation is grammar-based models: they can be used where proven correctness of specifications is required. From a practical point of view, we discuss how language specification can be made more accessible by focusing on language workbenches and projectional editing, and discuss how it can be formalized. We also give a brief overview of unconventional ideas to language definition, and outline three open problems connected to the approaches we discuss

Projectional Editors for JSON-Based DSLs

Augmenting text-based programming with rich structured interactions has been explored in many ways. Among these, projectional editors offer an enticing combination of structure editing and domain-specific program visualization. Yet such tools are typically bespoke and expensive to produce, leaving them inaccessible to many DSL and application designers. We describe a relatively inexpensive way to build rich projectional editors for a large class of DSLs -- namely, those defined using JSON. Given any such JSON-based DSL, we derive a projectional editor through (i) a language-agnostic mapping from JSON Schemas to structure-editor GUIs and (ii) an API for application designers to implement custom views for the domain-specific types described in a schema. We implement these ideas in a prototype, Prong, which we illustrate with several examples including the Vega and Vega-Lite data visualization DSLs.Comment: To appear at VL/HCC 202

Gentleman : a lightweight web-based projectional editor

Lors de la conception et la manipulation de logiciel par modélisation, il est avantageux de bénéficier d’un grand degré de liberté au niveau de la présentation afin de comprendre l’information et prendre une action en exerçant peu d’effort cognitif et physique. Cette caractéristique doit aussi s’étendre aux outils que nous employons afin que ceux-ci augmentent nos capacités, plutôt que les restreindre. En génie logiciel, nous travaillons présentement à rehausser encore le niveau d’abstraction afin de réduire le rôle central du code décrit avec un langage de programmation à usage général. Ceci permettrait d’inclure les experts non techniques dans les activités de développement de logiciel. Cette approche, centralisée sur le domaine et l’expert, s’inscrit dans l’ingénierie dirigée par les modèles (IDM), où un modèle est produit et manipulé par divers experts et utilisateurs. Le modèle est alors décrit avec un langage créé spécifiquement pour un domaine d’application ou une tache, appelé langage dédié (DSL). Une technique utilisée pour créer ces modèles et leurs DSL est le projectional editing, qui permet d’utiliser des notations diverses interchangeables et d’étendre et composer facilement un langage. Toutefois, les solutions actuelles sont lourdes, spécifiques à une plateforme, et manquent considérablement d’utilisabilité, limitant ainsi l’usage et l’exploitation de cette approche. Pour mieux refléter les avantages du paradigme IDM avec le style projectionnel, nous introduisons dans cette thèse Gentleman, un éditeur projectionnel léger sur le web. Avec Gentleman, le développeur crée un modèle en combinant des concepts utilisés pour définir la structure du modèle et des projections pour les manipuler dans l’éditeur. Nous avons évalué Gentleman à travers une étude basée sur un groupe d’utilisateur. L’étude a confirmé sa capacité à créer et manipuler des modèles efficacement. Les participants ont noté qu’il est facile de prendre en main Gentleman et que l’interface est très intuitive comparativement aux éditeurs existants. Nous avons aussi intégré Gentleman avec succès à une plateforme web, démontrant ainsi ses capacités d’interopérabilité et l’avantage d’une solution web.In software activities and, more specifically, when modeling, the modeler should benefit from as much freedom as possible to understand the presented information and take action with minimal cognitive and mechanical effort. This characteristic should also apply to the tools used in the process so that they extend our capabilities rather than limit them. In the field of software engineering, current work aims to push the level of abstraction past general-purpose programming language into domain-specific modeling. This enables domain experts with various backgrounds to participate in software development activities. This vision is central to model-driven engineering (MDE) where, instead of code, various experts and users produce and manipulate domain-specific language (DSL). In recent years, projectional editing has proven to be a valid approach to creating and manipulating DSLs, as it supports various easily interchangeable notations and enables language extension and composition. However, current solutions are heavyweight, platform-specific, and suffer from poor usability. To better support this paradigm and minimize the risk of accidental complexity in terms of expressiveness, in this thesis, we introduce Gentleman, a lightweight web-based projectional editor. With Gentleman, a developer creates a model by combining concepts used to define its structure and projections to interact and manipulate them in the editor. We have evaluated Gentleman through a user study. The evaluation confirmed its capacity to create and manipulate models effectively. Most participants noted that the editor is very user-friendly and intuitive compared to existing editors. We have also successfully integrated Gentleman into a web application, demonstrating its interoperability and the benefit of a web solution

Generating graphical and projectional editors

En ingénierie dirigée par les modèles, les langages spécifiques au domaine (DSL) offrent des notations adaptées à un domaine précis pour représenter ses différents concepts. De nombreux outils permettent la définition de DSLs en explicitant les relations entre un concept et ses représentations. En fonction de la sémantique du domaine, l’ingénieur du langage peut choisir entre des notations textuelles ou graphiques. Les langages de modélisation graphique nécessitent une gestion de la position, la taille et la disposition des éléments visuels afin de maximiser leur expressivité visuelle. La plupart des éditeurs de modélisation manquent de support automatique pour gérer ces propriétés de la syntaxe concrète. Les éditeurs projectionnels permettent aux utilisateurs de se concentrer sur la conception de leur modèle en limitant les modifications de la syntaxe concrète. Cependant, bien qu’ils offrent de multiples notations, ces éditeurs ne permettent pas la création de langage graphique. Dans ce mémoire, nous proposons une nouvelle approche pour concevoir des éditeurs graphiques et projectionnels. Nous avons créé une extension d’un éditeur projectionnel orienté vers le web, Gentleman, qui nous a permis d’extraire différentes exigences. Au cours du mémoire, nous décrivons leurs impacts sur les projections et proposons des lignes directrices ainsi que des exemples d’implémentation. Comme l’édition projectionnelle demande une gestion spécifique de l’interaction, nous présentons différentes approches pour interagir avec les représentations graphiques utilisant les nouvelles informations disponibles dans les projections. Étant donné que la plupart des exigences se concentrent sur la disposition des projections, nous avons défini plusieurs algorithmes simples de disposition qui couvrent une large gamme de structures pouvant être retrouvées dans un éditeur graphique. Enfin, afin d’évaluer cette approche, nous avons exploré la génération de trois éditeurs graphiques et projectionnels pour différents domaines: les machines d’états, les diagrammes de séquences et les partitions de musique.In model-driven engineering, domain specific-languages (DSL) provide tailored notations towards a specific problem domain to represent its different concepts. Multiple tools allow the definition of DSL by specifying the relations between a concept and its representations. Depending on the semantics of the domain, the language engineer can choose between textual or graphical notations. Graphical modeling languages require proper management of position, size, and layout to maximize their visual expressiveness. Most modeling editors lack automated support to manage these graphical concrete syntax properties. It is a time-consuming effort that affects the understandability of the model. Projectional editors prevent end-users from modifying the concrete syntax so they can focus on the modeling task. However, while they offer multiple notations, these editors lack support for graphical languages. During this thesis, we propose a new approach to design graphical and projectional editors. We created an extension of a web-oriented projectional editor, Gentleman, that allowed us to extract different requirements. During the thesis, we describe their impact on the projections and propose guidelines and examples of implementation. Because projectional editing requires specific management of the interaction, we present multiple approaches to interact with the graphical representations, using the new information available in the graphics. Since most of the requirements were focusing on the disposition of the projection, we define multiple simple layout algorithms that cover a large range of structures that can be found in a graphical editor. Finally, we explore the generation of three graphical and projectional editors for different domains: statecharts, sequence diagrams, and music sheet

SKot: A web-based Structured Code Editor for introductory programming in Kotlin

The use of Structured Code Editors such as Scratch for introduction to programing, especially at a younger age is prevalent in modern education systems. Transitioning to text-based editors sometimes proves to be challenging for beginners especially when it comes to learning the syntax of a modern language. This work goes into the research on Structured Code Editors and delves into the implementation of a Projectional Editor that presents the code to the user as it would appear in a text-based editor in a modern programing language such as Kotlin, while preserving syntactical correctness during edits. A web-based editor, named SKot for Structured Kotlin was implemented using JavaScript (JSON, React and Redux). A technique for implementing the Projectional Editor using these technologies is described in detail. Then, SKot is compared to other modern code editors and further work is proposed to improve it.O uso de Editores Estruturados de Código como o Scratch para introdução à programação, especialmente em idades mais jovens, é prevalente nos sistemas de educação modernos. A transição para editores de código baseados em texto pode ser desafiante para iniciantes, principalmente no que diz respeito à aprendizagem da sintaxe de uma linguagem moderna. Este trabalho explora a investigação atual sobre Editores Estruturados de Código e explica a implementação de um Editor Projecional que apresenta o código ao utilizador com a mesma aparência que teria num editor de texto numa linguagem de programação moderna, como Kotlin, enquanto preserva a correção sintática durante edições. Um editor no web browser, chamado SKot (Structured Kotlin), foi implementado usando JavaScript (JSON, React e Redux). Uma técnica para implementar o Editor Projecional usando estas tecnologias é descrita em detalhe. Por fim, o SKot é comparado com outros editores de código modernos e descreve-se trabalho futuro relativo a melhoramentos no mesmo

A survey on the design space of end-user-oriented languages for specifying robotic missions

Mobile robots are becoming increasingly important in society. Fulfilling complex missions in different contexts and environments,robots are promising instruments to support our everyday live. As such, the task of defining the robot’s missionis moving from professional developers and roboticists to the end-users. However, with the current state-of-the-art, definingmissions is non-trivial and typically requires dedicated programming skills. Since end-users usually lack such skills, manycommercial robots are nowadays equipped with environments and domain-specific languages tailored for end-users. As such,the software support for defining missions is becoming an increasingly relevant criterion when buying or choosing robots.Improving these environments and languages for specifying missions toward simplicity and flexibility is crucial. To this end,we need to improve our empirical understanding of the current state-of-the-art of such languages and their environments. Inthis paper, we contribute in this direction. We present a survey of 30 mission specification environments for mobile robots thatcome with a visual and end-user-oriented language. We explore the design space of these languages and their environments,identify their concepts, and organize them as features in a feature model. We believe that our results are valuable to practitionersand researchers designing the next generation of mission specification languages in the vibrant domain of mobilerobots