Tutorial 1:
Building Domain-Specific Modeling Languages with Full Code Generation

Domain-Specific Modeling (DSM) provides a viable solution for improving development productivity by raising the level of abstraction beyond coding. With DSM, the modeling language is made up of concepts from the problem domain world, not the code world (as in say UML). The architect or lead developer creates the modeling language for the domain, and automates the mapping of the concepts to code in a domain-specific code generator. This automation is possible because both the language and generators need fit the requirements of only one company and domain. As the language follows domain abstractions and semantics, when other developers in the team model with it they perceive themselves as working directly with domain concepts.

This tutorial introduces DSM through real-life examples from various domains. The main part of the tutorial addresses the guidelines for implementing DSM: how to identify the necessary language constructs, different ways of building code generators, how to keep generators simple by refactoring code into a domain framework, and how to build tool support for your modeling language.

Target audience: Architects, lead developers, researchers

Presenter: Juha-Pekka Tolvanen
Juha-Pekka Tolvanen, PhD, is the CEO of MetaCase (www.metacase.com). He has been involved in model-driven approaches, metamodeling and related tools since 1991. He has acted as a consultant worldwide on modeling language development, authored a book (Domain-Specific Modeling, Wiley 2008) and written over 70 articles in journals and conferences. Juha-Pekka is an adjunct professor at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland.