Building domain-specific modeling languages for frameworks

Abstract

Frameworks support application development improving productivity and quality. However, due to the number of hot stops to configure them, reusing frameworks may be a complex task which can make developers misuse them and insert defects in the application code. In order to reduce the complexity of this task, we propose increase its abstraction level by using Domain-Specific Modeling Languages (DSML) based on framework features to model and to generate applications that reuse these frameworks. In our approach, framework features and their hot spots are identified from an analysis of its source code and documentation, and then a DSML and a set of templates are constructed. With this DSML, applications reusing the framework can be modeled and generated, protecting developers from framework complexity and decreasing the time spent on the implementation. We illustrate our approach using GRENJ framework as example.