Isabelle/jEdit as IDE for Domain-specific Formal Languages and Informal Text Documents
This work provides a tool for developers and researchers working with formal languages in text documents, but it is incremental as it extends an existing IDE framework.
The paper explores using Isabelle/jEdit as a general IDE for domain-specific formal languages embedded in informal text documents, addressing how far a plain text editor can be stretched for semantic text processing with PIDE framework support.
Isabelle/jEdit is the main application of the Prover IDE (PIDE) framework and the default user-interface of Isabelle, but it is not limited to theorem proving. This paper explores possibilities to use it as a general IDE for formal languages that are defined in user-space, and embedded into informal text documents. It covers overall document structure with auxiliary files and document antiquotations, formal text delimiters and markers for interpretation (via control symbols). The ultimate question behind this: How far can we stretch a plain text editor like jEdit in order to support semantic text processing, with support by the underlying PIDE framework?