How to define modeling languages?

Software & Systems Modeling, vol. 22, pp. 449–451

Abstract

At the end of September 2022 at RWTH Aachen, Germany, there was a meeting attended by several experts on software language development with a specific emphasis on modeling.The LangDev meetings are particularly dedicated to the exchange of new ideas and innovations around the definition and use of Domain-Specific Languages (DSLs).Developers and users from multiple research and tooling groups attended, including representation from Essential, Freon (formerly ProjectIT), Gemoc, Langium, LinGo, MontiCore, MPS, Rascal, SpooFax, StarLasu, and Stratego.Attendees presented and discussed new trends and developments in their domains.Several practitioners also demonstrated new applications and uses of DSLs in various application domains, ranging from the European Union Digital COVID(-19) Certificate (the EU Digital Covid Certificate), to industrial printing systems, and digital twins, to name a few.LangDev 22 presented a very good balance among practitioners and researchers, as well as industrial and academic partners.The meeting welcomed a large number of new and young participants, which is a good sign for the community.Industrial partners included language workbench providers, and language workbench users, with impressive applications ranging from the EU DCC to examples in scientific computing.As the theme for this editorial, we want to share our impressions from that meeting as well as some general observations.The diversity of language definition approaches appear to be more diverse, yet harmonize in the concepts available.Several techniques created originally in one technology stack are now adopted in other tooling platforms.It is also evident that various approaches are moving to the web, which B

Authors 3

1. Benoît Combemale

   Université de Rennes

   Affiliation as printed

   University of Rennes, Rennes, France

2. Jeff Gray

   University of Alabama

   Affiliation as printed

   University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL USA

   University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA

3. Bernhard Rumpe⋆ corresponding Aachen

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany