Towards context sensitive domain specific languages

Laird, Paul, Barrett, Stephen. Towards context sensitive domain specific languages. In CAMS '09: Proceedings of the 1st International Workshop on Context-Aware Middleware and Services. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 2009. [doi]

Abstract

We propose the development of a framework for the dynamic context sensitive interpretation of Domain Specific Languages. Domains often contain abstractions, the interpretation of which change in conjunction with changes in the domain or changes in the context in which the program executes. In a scenario where domain assumptions encoded in the DSL change, programmers must still work with the existing DSL, and therefore take more effort to describe their program or sometimes fail to specify their intent. In such changing circumstances DSLs risk becoming less fit for purpose. We seek to develop an approach which makes a DSL less restrictive, maintaining flexibility and adaptability to cope with changing or novel contexts without reducing the expressiveness of the abstractions used.