First-class domain specific aspect languages

Abstract

Programming in a domain specific aspect language (DSAL) typically involves some language workbench for transforming the DSAL code and some AOP composition framework for weaving the transformed code. However, DSAL development remains second-class in two respects. Unlike programming in a general purpose aspect language, compiling DSAL code requires pre-processing that makes the program source code incompatible with existing AOP tools. Unlike defining a domain specific language, defining a DSAL requires weaving semantics whose specification is not supported in the language workbench. In this work we present a DSAL workbench solution in which DSALs are first-class DSLs as well as first-class AOP languages. We illustrate the approach by integrating the Spoofax language workbench and the Awesome composition framework into such a DSAL workbench.