Hans Gr{\"o}nniger, Holger Krahn, Bernhard Rumpe, Martin Schindler, Steven V{\"o}lkel. MontiCore: a framework for the development of textual domain specific languages. In Wilhelm Sch{\"a}fer, Matthew B. Dwyer, Volker Gruhn, editors, 30th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE 2008), Leipzig, Germany, May 10-18, 2008, Companion Volume. pages 925-926, ACM, Leipzig, Germany, 2008. [doi]
In this paper we demonstrate a framework for the efficient development of textual domain specific languages and supporting tools. We use a redundance-free and compact definition of a readable concrete syntax and a comprehensible abstract syntax as both representations significantly overlap in their structure. To further improve the usability of the abstract syntax, this definition format integrates additional concepts like associations and inheritance into the well-understood grammar-based approach. Modularity concepts like language inheritance and embedding are used to simplify the development of languages based on already existing ones. In addition, the generation of editors and a template approach for code generation is explained.