Towards Systematic Engineering of Hybrid Graphical-Textual Domain-Specific Languages

TY - GEN

T1 - Towards Systematic Engineering of Hybrid Graphical-Textual Domain-Specific Languages

AU - Predoaia, Ionut

N1 - This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the University’s Research Publications and Open Access policy.

PY - 2023/12/22

Y1 - 2023/12/22

N2 - A domain-specific language (DSL) can have graphical, textual or hybrid syntaxes. Certain domain concepts are better suited to be represented graphically, whereas a textual representation is often more appropriate for modeling the behavior, complex expressions, and fine details of a domain. As such, the best of both worlds of graphical and textual modeling can be delivered by a DSL that has a hybrid (part-graphical and part-textual) syntax. The engineering of hybrid graphical-textual DSLs and their supporting workbenches is a non-trivial endeavor, as a substantial amount of hand-written code is required. Existing workbenches for hybrid graphical-textual DSLs pose several limitations, e.g., they do not enforce the consistency between the graphical and textual parts of the model and do not provide uniform error reporting. This work will propose a methodology and provide tooling for systematic engineering that aims to minimize the accidental complexity involved in designing and developing hybrid graphical-textual DSLs and their supporting workbenches.

AB - A domain-specific language (DSL) can have graphical, textual or hybrid syntaxes. Certain domain concepts are better suited to be represented graphically, whereas a textual representation is often more appropriate for modeling the behavior, complex expressions, and fine details of a domain. As such, the best of both worlds of graphical and textual modeling can be delivered by a DSL that has a hybrid (part-graphical and part-textual) syntax. The engineering of hybrid graphical-textual DSLs and their supporting workbenches is a non-trivial endeavor, as a substantial amount of hand-written code is required. Existing workbenches for hybrid graphical-textual DSLs pose several limitations, e.g., they do not enforce the consistency between the graphical and textual parts of the model and do not provide uniform error reporting. This work will propose a methodology and provide tooling for systematic engineering that aims to minimize the accidental complexity involved in designing and developing hybrid graphical-textual DSLs and their supporting workbenches.

KW - Domain-Specific Languages

KW - Graphical-Textual Modeling

KW - Language Engineering

KW - Model Editors

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85182403762&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.computer.org/csdl/proceedings-article/models-c/2023/249800a153/1T96mq2cviE

U2 - 10.1109/MODELS-C59198.2023.00041

DO - 10.1109/MODELS-C59198.2023.00041

M3 - Conference contribution

SN - 979-8-3503-2499-0

T3 - ACM/IEEE International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems (MODELS)

SP - 153

EP - 158

BT - Proceedings - 2023 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems Companion, MODELS-C 2023

PB - IEEE

T2 - 2023 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems, MODELS-C 2023

Y2 - 1 October 2023 through 6 October 2023

ER -