Integrated Definition of Abstract and Concrete Syntax for Textual Languages
This addresses consistency issues in language definition for domain-specific modeling, which is incremental as it builds on existing grammar-based approaches.
The paper tackles the problem of discrepancies between concrete and abstract syntax in textual modeling languages by proposing an extended grammar format that integrates both definitions, reducing redundancy and forming a foundation for extensible language definitions.
An understandable concrete syntax and a comprehensible abstract syntax are two central aspects of defining a modeling language. Both representations of a language significantly overlap in their structure and also information, but may also differ in parts of the information. To avoid discrepancies and problems while handling the language, concrete and abstract syntax need to be consistently defined. This will become an even bigger problem, when domain specific languages will become used to a larger extent. In this paper we present an extended grammar format that avoids redundancy between concrete and abstract syntax by allowing an integrated definition of both for textual modeling languages. For an amendment of the usability of the abstract syntax it furthermore integrates meta-modeling concepts like associations and inheritance into a well-understood grammar-based approach. This forms a sound foundation for an extensible grammar and therefore language definition.