The ever-expanding DSL syndrome

A DSL is a Domain Specific Language, a language designed for a particular application domain. You're likely to know already a few dozen DSLs : think of HTML, CSS and JavaFX (web), SQL (database), UML (modeling), COBOL and PL/1 (financial application), Fortran and Matlab (scientific applications), AutoCAD (3D design), Postscript (page design). Some more specialized DSLs are known only within their community : MLFi (finance), OPL, AMPL and GAMS (optimization), Lex and Yacc (parsing). Today there exist thousands of DSLs, and you could not imagine developing a software application without them. DSLs are important because they allow you to express quite directly the concepts you have in mind.

Most DSLs are subject to what I call the ever-expanding DSL syndrome : they come into existence as“small” languages specifically designed for expressing concepts specific to an application domain (they are often designed in-house by the domain experts, not by language specialists). But DSL users soon feel the need to express arbitrary expressions, to have access to more and more library functions, to access databases and web browsers, to handle programming-in-the-large via e.g. powerful type systems and modularization, to have better tools support, and so on.

As a result, DSL users are always waiting for a new feature, while DSL developers try to catch on by expanding the language and/or adding tool support, getting engaged in a never-ending spiral, in effect developing a general purpose language with a full-blown programming environment. This resulting language is obviously incompatible with anything existing, and is quite often plagued with quality problems and poor tooling support.

As an example, let us look at the new features advertised for existing modeling languages. The following excerpts are taken from the respective manufacturer's web sites : you will note that all the features mentioned here are unrelated to the domain of modeling, and are already present in mainstream general-purpose languages.

• AIMMS :
  
  
  
  • Web services
    
  
  
• AMPL :
  
  
  
  • Character strings
    
  • Database access
    
  • Looping and testing (writing "scripts")
    
  • Reporting and display
    
  
  
• GAMS :
  
  
  
  • Conditional statements
    
  
  
• OPL :
  
  
  
  • Connection with spreadsheets and relational databases
    
  • Scripting
    
  • Interactive development environment
    
  • External function calls
    

On the contrary, Ateji believes in designing DSLs that are "large" languages, namely DSLs designed as extensions of mainstream generalist languages. Rather than starting with a few domain-specific concepts and progressively adding additional features, we start with a full-featured general-purpose language and add domain-specific concepts.

The difference is striking : you will never complain again that your DSL doesn't allow you to add 1+1 (think CSS), since it already has all the features of a large programming language. Additional benefits are integration at the language level (DSL code and application code work on the same objects) and availability of state-of-the-art development environment and tools.

DSLs as extensions of mainstream languages also have a very fast learning curve. If you know the mainstream language, you'll only have to learn a few additional concepts. If you're a domain expert, you'll find a familiar language expressing the concepts of your domain. In both cases, you won't need to learn yet another different way of writing 1+1.