Interoperability and Composition of DSLs with Melange

Domain-Specific Languages (DSLs) are now developed for a wide variety of domains to address specific concerns in the development of complex systems. However, DSLs and their tooling still suffer from substantial development costs which hamper their successful adoption in the industry. For over a decade, researchers and practitioners have developed language workbenches with the promise to ease the development of DSLs. Despite many advances, there is still little support for advanced scenarios such as language evolution, composition , and interoperability. In this paper, we present a modular approach for assembling DSLs from other ones and seamlessly evolving them, while ensuring the reuse of associated tools through subsequent versions or across similar DSLs. We introduce the conceptual foundations of our approach, its implementation in the Melange language workbench, and summarize its benefits on various case studies

Towards Language-Oriented Modeling

In this habilitation à diriger des recherches (HDR), I review a decade of research work in the fields of Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) and Software Language Engineering (SLE). I propose contributions to support a language-oriented modeling, with the particular focus on enabling early validation & verification (V&V) of software-intensive systems. I first present foundational concepts and engineering facilities which help to capture the core domain knowledge into the various heterogeneous concerns of DSMLs (aka. metamodeling in the small), with a particular focus on executable DSMLs to automate the development of dynamic V&V tools. Then, I propose structural and behavioral DSML interfaces, and associated composition operators to reuse and integrate multiple DSMLs (aka. metamodeling in the large).In these research activities I explore various breakthroughs in terms of modularity and reusability of DSMLs. I also propose an original approach which bridges the gap between the concurrency theory and the algorithm theory, to integrate a formal concurrency model into the execution semantics of DSMLs. All the contributions have been implemented in software platforms — the language workbench Melange and the GEMOC studio – and experienced in real-world case studies to assess their validity. In this context, I also founded the GEMOC initiative, an attempt to federate the community on the grand challenge of the globalization of modeling languages

Revisiting visitors for modular extension of executable DSMLs

Executable Domain-Specific Modeling Languages (xDSMLs) are typically defined by metamodels that specify their abstract syntax, and model interpreters or compilers that define their execution semantics. To face the proliferation of xDSMLs in many domains, it is important to provide language engineering facilities for opportunistic reuse, extension, and customization of existing xDSMLs to ease the definition of new ones. Current approaches to language reuse either require to anticipate reuse, make use of advanced features that are not widely available in programming languages, or are not directly applicable to metamodel-based xDSMLs. In this paper, we propose a new language implementation pattern, named Revisitor, that enables independent extensibility of the syntax and semantics of metamodel-based xDSMLs with incremental compilation and without anticipation. We seamlessly implement our approach alongside the compilation chain of the Eclipse Modeling Framework, thereby demonstrating that it is directly and broadly applicable in various modeling environments. We show how it can be employed to incrementally extend both the syntax and semantics of the fUML language without requiring anticipation or re-compilation of existing code, and with acceptable performance penalty compared to classical handmade visitors

Intermediate CONNECT Architecture

Interoperability remains a fundamental challenge when connecting heterogeneous systems which encounter and spontaneously communicate with one another in pervasive computing environments. This challenge is exasperated by the highly heterogeneous technologies employed by each of the interacting parties, i.e., in terms of hardware, operating system, middleware protocols, and application protocols. The key aim of the CONNECT project is to drop this heterogeneity barrier and achieve universal interoperability. Here we report on the activities of WP1 into developing the CONNECT architecture that will underpin this solution. In this respect, we present the following key contributions from the second year. Firstly, the intermediary CONNECT architecture that presents a more concrete view of the technologies and principles employed to enable interoperability between heterogeneous networked systems. Secondly, the design and implementation of the discovery enabler with emphasis on the approaches taken to match compatible networked systems. Thirdly, the realisation of CONNECTors that can be deployed in the environment; we provide domain specific language solutions to generate and translate between middleware protocols. Fourthly, we highlight the role of ontologies within CONNECT and demonstrate how ontologies crosscut all functionality within the CONNECT architecture

Reusing Legacy DSLs with Melange

International audienceThe proliferation of independently-developed and constantly-evolving domain-specific languages (DSLs) in many domains raises new challenges for the software language engineering community. Instead of starting the definition of new DSLs from scratch, language designers would benefit from the reuse of previously defined DSLs. While the support for engineering isolated DSLs is getting more and more mature , there is still little support in language workbenches for importing, assembling, and customizing legacy languages to form new ones. Melange is a new language workbench where new DSLs are built by assembling pieces of syntax and semantics. These pieces can be imported and subsequently extended , restricted, or customized to fit specific requirements. The demonstration will introduce the audience to the main features of Melange through the definition of an executable DSL for the design and execution of Internet of Things systems. Specifically, we will show how such a language can be obtained from the assembly of other popular languages while maintaining the compatibility with their tools and transformations