<s>
A	O
domain-specific	B-Language
language	I-Language
(	O
DSL	O
)	O
is	O
a	O
computer	B-Language
language	I-Language
specialized	O
to	O
a	O
particular	O
application	O
domain	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
is	O
in	O
contrast	O
to	O
a	O
general-purpose	B-General_Concept
language	I-General_Concept
(	O
GPL	O
)	O
,	O
which	O
is	O
broadly	O
applicable	O
across	O
domains	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
are	O
a	O
wide	O
variety	O
of	O
DSLs	O
,	O
ranging	O
from	O
widely	O
used	O
languages	O
for	O
common	O
domains	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
HTML	B-Language
for	O
web	O
pages	O
,	O
down	O
to	O
languages	O
used	O
by	O
only	O
one	O
or	O
a	O
few	O
pieces	O
of	O
software	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
MUSH	B-Application
soft	O
code	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
DSLs	O
can	O
be	O
further	O
subdivided	O
by	O
the	O
kind	O
of	O
language	O
,	O
and	O
include	O
domain-specific	O
markup	O
languages	O
,	O
domain-specific	B-Language
modeling	I-Language
languages	I-Language
(	O
more	O
generally	O
,	O
specification	B-Application
languages	I-Application
)	O
,	O
and	O
domain-specific	B-Language
programming	I-Language
languages	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Special-purpose	O
computer	B-Language
languages	I-Language
have	O
always	O
existed	O
in	O
the	O
computer	O
age	O
,	O
but	O
the	O
term	O
"	O
domain-specific	B-Language
language	I-Language
"	O
has	O
become	O
more	O
popular	O
due	O
to	O
the	O
rise	O
of	O
domain-specific	B-Language
modeling	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Simpler	O
DSLs	O
,	O
particularly	O
ones	O
used	O
by	O
a	O
single	O
application	O
,	O
are	O
sometimes	O
informally	O
called	O
mini-languages	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
line	O
between	O
general-purpose	B-General_Concept
languages	I-General_Concept
and	O
domain-specific	B-Language
languages	I-Language
is	O
not	O
always	O
sharp	O
,	O
as	O
a	O
language	O
may	O
have	O
specialized	O
features	O
for	O
a	O
particular	O
domain	B-General_Concept
but	O
be	O
applicable	O
more	O
broadly	O
,	O
or	O
conversely	O
may	O
in	O
principle	O
be	O
capable	O
of	O
broad	O
application	O
but	O
in	O
practice	O
used	O
primarily	O
for	O
a	O
specific	O
domain	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
Perl	B-Language
was	O
originally	O
developed	O
as	O
a	O
text-processing	O
and	O
glue	O
language	O
,	O
for	O
the	O
same	O
domain	B-General_Concept
as	O
AWK	B-Application
and	O
shell	B-Language
scripts	I-Language
,	O
but	O
was	O
mostly	O
used	O
as	O
a	O
general-purpose	O
programming	O
language	O
later	O
on	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
By	O
contrast	O
,	O
PostScript	B-Language
is	O
a	O
Turing-complete	O
language	O
,	O
and	O
in	O
principle	O
can	O
be	O
used	O
for	O
any	O
task	O
,	O
but	O
in	O
practice	O
is	O
narrowly	O
used	O
as	O
a	O
page	O
description	O
language	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
design	O
and	O
use	O
of	O
appropriate	O
DSLs	O
is	O
a	O
key	O
part	O
of	O
domain	B-General_Concept
engineering	O
,	O
by	O
using	O
a	O
language	O
suitable	O
to	O
the	O
domain	B-General_Concept
at	O
hand	O
–	O
this	O
may	O
consist	O
of	O
using	O
an	O
existing	O
DSL	O
or	O
GPL	O
,	O
or	O
developing	O
a	O
new	O
DSL	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Language-oriented	B-Application
programming	I-Application
considers	O
the	O
creation	O
of	O
special-purpose	O
languages	O
for	O
expressing	O
problems	O
as	O
standard	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
problem-solving	O
process	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Creating	O
a	O
domain-specific	B-Language
language	I-Language
(	O
with	O
software	O
to	O
support	O
it	O
)	O
,	O
rather	O
than	O
reusing	O
an	O
existing	O
language	O
,	O
can	O
be	O
worthwhile	O
if	O
the	O
language	O
allows	O
a	O
particular	O
type	O
of	O
problem	O
or	O
solution	O
to	O
be	O
expressed	O
more	O
clearly	O
than	O
an	O
existing	O
language	O
would	O
allow	O
and	O
the	O
type	O
of	O
problem	O
in	O
question	O
reappears	O
sufficiently	O
often	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Pragmatically	O
,	O
a	O
DSL	O
may	O
be	O
specialized	O
to	O
a	O
particular	O
problem	O
domain	B-General_Concept
,	O
a	O
particular	O
problem	O
representation	O
technique	O
,	O
a	O
particular	O
solution	O
technique	O
,	O
or	O
other	O
aspects	O
of	O
a	O
domain	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
domain-specific	B-Language
language	I-Language
is	O
created	O
specifically	O
to	O
solve	O
problems	O
in	O
a	O
particular	O
domain	B-General_Concept
and	O
is	O
not	O
intended	O
to	O
be	O
able	O
to	O
solve	O
problems	O
outside	O
of	O
it	O
(	O
although	O
that	O
may	O
be	O
technically	O
possible	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
contrast	O
,	O
general-purpose	B-General_Concept
languages	I-General_Concept
are	O
created	O
to	O
solve	O
problems	O
in	O
many	O
domains	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
domain	B-General_Concept
can	O
also	O
be	O
a	O
business	O
area	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
domain-specific	B-Language
language	I-Language
is	O
somewhere	O
between	O
a	O
tiny	O
programming	O
language	O
and	O
a	O
scripting	B-Language
language	I-Language
,	O
and	O
is	O
often	O
used	O
in	O
a	O
way	O
analogous	O
to	O
a	O
programming	B-Library
library	I-Library
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
boundaries	O
between	O
these	O
concepts	O
are	O
quite	O
blurry	O
,	O
much	O
like	O
the	O
boundary	O
between	O
scripting	B-Language
languages	I-Language
and	O
general-purpose	B-General_Concept
languages	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Domain-specific	B-Language
languages	I-Language
are	O
languages	O
(	O
or	O
often	O
,	O
declared	O
syntaxes	O
or	O
grammars	O
)	O
with	O
very	O
specific	O
goals	O
in	O
design	O
and	O
implementation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
domain-specific	B-Language
language	I-Language
can	O
be	O
one	O
of	O
a	O
visual	O
diagramming	O
language	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
those	O
created	O
by	O
the	O
Generic	B-Language
Eclipse	I-Language
Modeling	I-Language
System	I-Language
,	O
programmatic	O
abstractions	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
the	O
Eclipse	B-Language
Modeling	I-Language
Framework	I-Language
,	O
or	O
textual	O
languages	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
instance	O
,	O
the	O
command	O
line	O
utility	O
grep	B-Application
has	O
a	O
regular	B-Language
expression	I-Language
syntax	O
which	O
matches	O
patterns	O
in	O
lines	O
of	O
text	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
sed	B-Application
utility	O
defines	O
a	O
syntax	O
for	O
matching	O
and	O
replacing	O
regular	B-Language
expressions	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Often	O
,	O
these	O
tiny	O
languages	O
can	O
be	O
used	O
together	O
inside	O
a	O
shell	B-Operating_System
to	O
perform	O
more	O
complex	O
programming	O
tasks	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
line	O
between	O
domain-specific	B-Language
languages	I-Language
and	O
scripting	B-Language
languages	I-Language
is	O
somewhat	O
blurred	O
,	O
but	O
domain-specific	B-Language
languages	I-Language
often	O
lack	O
low-level	O
functions	O
for	O
filesystem	O
access	O
,	O
interprocess	O
control	O
,	O
and	O
other	O
functions	O
that	O
characterize	O
full-featured	O
programming	O
languages	O
,	O
scripting	O
or	O
otherwise	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Many	O
domain-specific	B-Language
languages	I-Language
do	O
not	O
compile	O
to	O
byte-code	O
or	O
executable	O
code	O
,	O
but	O
to	O
various	O
kinds	O
of	O
media	O
objects	O
:	O
GraphViz	B-Language
exports	O
to	O
PostScript	B-Language
,	O
GIF	O
,	O
JPEG	O
,	O
etc.	O
,	O
where	O
Csound	B-Application
compiles	O
to	O
audio	O
files	O
,	O
and	O
a	O
ray-tracing	O
domain-specific	B-Language
language	I-Language
like	O
POV	B-Application
compiles	O
to	O
graphics	O
files	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
computer	B-Language
language	I-Language
like	O
SQL	B-Language
presents	O
an	O
interesting	O
case	O
:	O
it	O
can	O
be	O
deemed	O
a	O
domain-specific	B-Language
language	I-Language
because	O
it	O
is	O
specific	O
to	O
a	O
specific	O
domain	B-General_Concept
(	O
in	O
SQL	B-Language
's	O
case	O
,	O
accessing	O
and	O
managing	O
relational	B-Application
databases	I-Application
)	O
,	O
and	O
is	O
often	O
called	O
from	O
another	O
application	O
,	O
but	O
SQL	B-Language
has	O
more	O
keywords	O
and	O
functions	O
than	O
many	O
scripting	B-Language
languages	I-Language
,	O
and	O
is	O
often	O
thought	O
of	O
as	O
a	O
language	O
in	O
its	O
own	O
right	O
,	O
perhaps	O
because	O
of	O
the	O
prevalence	O
of	O
database	O
manipulation	O
in	O
programming	O
and	O
the	O
amount	O
of	O
mastery	O
required	O
to	O
be	O
an	O
expert	O
in	O
the	O
language	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Further	O
blurring	O
this	O
line	O
,	O
many	O
domain-specific	B-Language
languages	I-Language
have	O
exposed	O
APIs	O
,	O
and	O
can	O
be	O
accessed	O
from	O
other	O
programming	O
languages	O
without	O
breaking	O
the	O
flow	O
of	O
execution	O
or	O
calling	O
a	O
separate	O
process	O
,	O
and	O
can	O
thus	O
operate	O
as	O
programming	B-Library
libraries	I-Library
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
domain-specific	B-Language
languages	I-Language
expand	O
over	O
time	O
to	O
include	O
full-featured	O
programming	O
tools	O
,	O
which	O
further	O
complicates	O
the	O
question	O
of	O
whether	O
a	O
language	O
is	O
domain-specific	O
or	O
not	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
good	O
example	O
is	O
the	O
functional	B-Language
language	I-Language
XSLT	B-Application
,	O
specifically	O
designed	O
for	O
transforming	O
one	O
XML	O
graph	O
into	O
another	O
,	O
which	O
has	O
been	O
extended	O
since	O
its	O
inception	O
to	O
allow	O
(	O
particularly	O
in	O
its	O
2.0	O
version	O
)	O
for	O
various	O
forms	O
of	O
filesystem	O
interaction	O
,	O
string	O
and	O
date	O
manipulation	O
,	O
and	O
data	O
typing	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
model-driven	B-Language
engineering	I-Language
,	O
many	O
examples	O
of	O
domain-specific	B-Language
languages	I-Language
may	O
be	O
found	O
like	O
OCL	B-Language
,	O
a	O
language	O
for	O
decorating	O
models	O
with	O
assertions	O
or	O
QVT	B-Language
,	O
a	O
domain-specific	O
transformation	O
language	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
languages	O
like	O
UML	B-Language
are	O
typically	O
general-purpose	O
modeling	B-Language
languages	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
To	O
summarize	O
,	O
an	O
analogy	O
might	O
be	O
useful	O
:	O
a	O
Very	O
Little	B-Language
Language	I-Language
is	O
like	O
a	O
knife	O
,	O
which	O
can	O
be	O
used	O
in	O
thousands	O
of	O
different	O
ways	O
,	O
from	O
cutting	O
food	O
to	O
cutting	O
down	O
trees	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
domain-specific	B-Language
language	I-Language
is	O
like	O
an	O
electric	O
drill	O
:	O
it	O
is	O
a	O
powerful	O
tool	O
with	O
a	O
wide	O
variety	O
of	O
uses	O
,	O
but	O
a	O
specific	O
context	O
,	O
namely	O
,	O
putting	O
holes	O
in	O
things	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Domain-specific	B-Language
languages	I-Language
should	O
be	O
used	O
by	O
programmers	O
who	O
,	O
looking	O
at	O
their	O
current	O
workbench	O
,	O
realize	O
they	O
need	O
a	O
better	O
drill	O
and	O
find	O
that	O
a	O
particular	O
domain-specific	B-Language
language	I-Language
provides	O
exactly	O
that	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
DSLs	O
implemented	O
via	O
an	O
independent	O
interpreter	O
or	O
compiler	O
are	O
known	O
as	O
External	O
Domain	B-Language
Specific	I-Language
Languages	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Well	O
known	O
examples	O
include	O
LaTeX	O
or	O
AWK	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
separate	O
category	O
known	O
as	O
Embedded	O
(	O
or	O
Internal	O
)	O
Domain	B-Language
Specific	I-Language
Languages	I-Language
are	O
typically	O
implemented	O
within	O
a	O
host	O
language	O
as	O
a	O
library	O
and	O
tend	O
to	O
be	O
limited	O
to	O
the	O
syntax	O
of	O
the	O
host	O
language	O
,	O
though	O
this	O
depends	O
on	O
host	O
language	O
capabilities	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
are	O
several	O
usage	O
patterns	O
for	O
domain-specific	B-Language
languages	I-Language
:	O
</s>
<s>
Processing	O
with	O
standalone	O
tools	O
,	O
invoked	O
via	O
direct	O
user	O
operation	O
,	O
often	O
on	O
the	O
command	O
line	O
or	O
from	O
a	O
Makefile	O
(	O
e.g.	O
,	O
grep	B-Application
for	O
regular	B-Language
expression	I-Language
matching	O
,	O
sed	B-Application
,	O
lex	O
,	O
yacc	B-Application
,	O
the	O
GraphViz	B-Language
toolset	O
,	O
etc	O
.	O
)	O
</s>
<s>
embedded	O
domain-specific	B-Language
language	I-Language
(	O
eDSL	O
)	O
,	O
implemented	O
as	O
libraries	O
which	O
exploit	O
the	O
syntax	O
of	O
their	O
host	O
general	O
purpose	O
language	O
or	O
a	O
subset	O
thereof	O
while	O
adding	O
domain-specific	B-Language
language	I-Language
elements	O
(	O
data	O
types	O
,	O
routines	O
,	O
methods	O
,	O
macros	O
etc	O
.	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Domain-specific	B-Language
languages	I-Language
which	O
are	O
called	O
(	O
at	O
runtime	O
)	O
from	O
programs	O
written	O
in	O
general	O
purpose	O
languages	O
like	O
C	B-Language
or	O
Perl	B-Language
,	O
to	O
perform	O
a	O
specific	O
function	O
,	O
often	O
returning	O
the	O
results	O
of	O
operation	O
to	O
the	O
"	O
host	O
"	O
programming	O
language	O
for	O
further	O
processing	O
;	O
generally	O
,	O
an	O
interpreter	O
or	O
virtual	B-Architecture
machine	I-Architecture
for	O
the	O
domain-specific	B-Language
language	I-Language
is	O
embedded	O
into	O
the	O
host	O
application	O
(	O
e.g.	O
</s>
<s>
Domain-specific	B-Language
languages	I-Language
which	O
are	O
embedded	O
into	O
user	O
applications	O
(	O
e.g.	O
,	O
macro	O
languages	O
within	O
spreadsheets	B-Application
)	O
and	O
which	O
are	O
(	O
1	O
)	O
used	O
to	O
execute	O
code	O
that	O
is	O
written	O
by	O
users	O
of	O
the	O
application	O
,	O
(	O
2	O
)	O
dynamically	O
generated	O
by	O
the	O
application	O
,	O
or	O
(	O
3	O
)	O
both	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Many	O
domain-specific	B-Language
languages	I-Language
can	O
be	O
used	O
in	O
more	O
than	O
one	O
way	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
DSL	O
code	O
embedded	O
in	O
a	O
host	O
language	O
may	O
have	O
special	O
syntax	O
support	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
regexes	B-Language
in	O
sed	B-Application
,	O
AWK	B-Application
,	O
Perl	B-Language
or	O
JavaScript	O
,	O
or	O
may	O
be	O
passed	O
as	O
strings	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Adopting	O
a	O
domain-specific	B-Language
language	I-Language
approach	O
to	O
software	B-General_Concept
engineering	I-General_Concept
involves	O
both	O
risks	O
and	O
opportunities	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
well-designed	O
domain-specific	B-Language
language	I-Language
manages	O
to	O
find	O
the	O
proper	O
balance	O
between	O
these	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Domain-specific	B-Language
languages	I-Language
have	O
important	O
design	O
goals	O
that	O
contrast	O
with	O
those	O
of	O
general-purpose	B-General_Concept
languages	I-General_Concept
:	O
</s>
<s>
Domain-specific	B-Language
languages	I-Language
are	O
less	O
comprehensive	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Domain-specific	B-Language
languages	I-Language
are	O
much	O
more	O
expressive	O
in	O
their	O
domain	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Domain-specific	B-Language
languages	I-Language
should	O
exhibit	O
minimal	O
redundancy	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
General	O
purpose	O
programming	O
languages	O
rarely	O
support	O
such	O
idioms	O
,	O
but	O
domain-specific	B-Language
languages	I-Language
can	O
describe	O
them	O
,	O
e.g.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
domain-specific	B-Language
language	I-Language
can	O
parameterize	O
command	O
line	O
input	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Examples	O
of	O
domain-specific	B-Language
languages	I-Language
include	O
HTML	B-Language
,	O
Logo	B-Device
for	O
pencil-like	O
drawing	O
,	O
Verilog	B-Language
and	O
VHDL	B-Language
hardware	O
description	O
languages	O
,	O
MATLAB	B-Language
and	O
GNU	B-Language
Octave	I-Language
for	O
matrix	O
programming	O
,	O
Mathematica	B-Language
,	O
Maple	B-Language
and	O
Maxima	B-Language
for	O
symbolic	B-Algorithm
mathematics	I-Algorithm
,	O
Specification	B-Application
and	I-Application
Description	I-Application
Language	I-Application
for	O
reactive	O
and	O
distributed	O
systems	O
,	O
spreadsheet	B-Application
formulas	O
and	O
macros	O
,	O
SQL	B-Language
for	O
relational	B-Application
database	I-Application
queries	O
,	O
YACC	B-Application
grammars	O
for	O
creating	O
parsers	B-Language
,	O
regular	B-Language
expressions	I-Language
for	O
specifying	O
lexers	B-Application
,	O
the	O
Generic	B-Language
Eclipse	I-Language
Modeling	I-Language
System	I-Language
for	O
creating	O
diagramming	O
languages	O
,	O
Csound	B-Application
for	O
sound	O
and	O
music	O
synthesis	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
input	O
languages	O
of	O
GraphViz	B-Language
and	O
GrGen	B-Application
,	O
software	O
packages	O
used	O
for	O
graph	O
layout	B-Language
and	O
graph	B-Application
rewriting	I-Application
,	O
Hashicorp	O
Configuration	O
Language	O
used	O
for	O
Terraform	B-General_Concept
and	O
other	O
Hashicorp	O
tools	O
,	O
Puppet	B-Application
also	O
has	O
its	O
own	O
configuration	O
language	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
GML	O
scripting	B-Language
language	I-Language
used	O
by	O
GameMaker	B-Operating_System
Studio	I-Operating_System
is	O
a	O
domain-specific	B-Language
language	I-Language
targeted	O
at	O
novice	O
programmers	O
to	O
easily	O
be	O
able	O
to	O
learn	O
programming	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
the	O
language	O
serves	O
as	O
a	O
blend	O
of	O
multiple	O
languages	O
including	O
Delphi	B-Language
,	O
C++	B-Language
,	O
and	O
BASIC	O
,	O
there	O
is	O
a	O
lack	O
of	O
structures	O
,	O
data	O
types	O
,	O
and	O
other	O
features	O
of	O
a	O
full-fledged	O
programming	O
language	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
ColdFusion	B-Language
's	O
associated	O
scripting	B-Language
language	I-Language
is	O
another	O
example	O
of	O
a	O
domain-specific	B-Language
language	I-Language
for	O
data-driven	O
websites	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
scripting	B-Language
language	I-Language
is	O
used	O
to	O
weave	O
together	O
languages	O
and	O
services	O
such	O
as	O
Java	O
,	O
.NET	O
,	O
C++	B-Language
,	O
SMS	O
,	O
email	O
,	O
email	O
servers	O
,	O
http	O
,	O
ftp	O
,	O
exchange	O
,	O
directory	O
services	O
,	O
and	O
file	O
systems	O
for	O
use	O
in	O
websites	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
CFML	B-Language
tag	O
syntax	O
is	O
similar	O
to	O
HTML	B-Language
element	O
syntax	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	B-Operating_System
Erlang	I-Operating_System
Open	I-Operating_System
Telecom	I-Operating_System
Platform	I-Operating_System
was	O
originally	O
designed	O
for	O
use	O
inside	O
Ericsson	O
as	O
a	O
domain-specific	B-Language
language	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
language	O
itself	O
offers	O
a	O
platform	O
of	O
libraries	O
to	O
create	O
finite	O
state	O
machines	O
,	O
generic	O
servers	O
and	O
event	O
managers	O
that	O
quickly	O
allow	O
an	O
engineer	O
to	O
deploy	O
applications	O
,	O
or	O
support	O
libraries	O
,	O
that	O
have	O
been	O
shown	O
in	O
industry	O
benchmarks	O
to	O
outperform	O
other	O
languages	O
intended	O
for	O
a	O
mixed	O
set	O
of	O
domains	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
C	B-Language
and	O
C++	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
FilterMeister	O
is	O
a	O
programming	B-Application
environment	I-Application
,	O
with	O
a	O
programming	O
language	O
that	O
is	O
based	O
on	O
C	B-Language
,	O
for	O
the	O
specific	O
purpose	O
of	O
creating	O
Photoshop-compatible	O
image	O
processing	O
filter	O
plug-ins	O
;	O
FilterMeister	O
runs	O
as	O
a	O
Photoshop	B-Operating_System
plug-in	O
itself	O
and	O
it	O
can	O
load	O
and	O
execute	O
scripts	O
or	O
compile	O
and	O
export	O
them	O
as	O
independent	O
plug-ins	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
the	O
FilterMeister	O
language	O
reproduces	O
a	O
significant	O
portion	O
of	O
the	O
C	B-Language
language	I-Language
and	O
function	B-Library
library	I-Library
,	O
it	O
contains	O
only	O
those	O
features	O
which	O
can	O
be	O
used	O
within	O
the	O
context	O
of	O
Photoshop	B-Operating_System
plug-ins	O
and	O
adds	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
specific	O
features	O
only	O
useful	O
in	O
this	O
specific	O
domain	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Template	O
feature	O
of	O
MediaWiki	B-Application
is	O
an	O
embedded	O
domain-specific	B-Language
language	I-Language
whose	O
fundamental	O
purpose	O
is	O
to	O
support	O
the	O
creation	O
of	O
page	O
templates	O
and	O
the	O
transclusion	O
(	O
inclusion	O
by	O
reference	O
)	O
of	O
MediaWiki	B-Application
pages	O
into	O
other	O
MediaWiki	B-Application
pages	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
has	O
been	O
much	O
interest	O
in	O
domain-specific	B-Language
languages	I-Language
to	O
improve	O
the	O
productivity	O
and	O
quality	O
of	O
software	B-General_Concept
engineering	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Domain-specific	B-Language
language	I-Language
could	O
possibly	O
provide	O
a	O
robust	O
set	O
of	O
tools	O
for	O
efficient	O
software	B-General_Concept
engineering	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
toolkit	O
is	O
a	O
suite	O
of	O
utilities	O
including	O
a	O
specification	O
editor	O
to	O
create	O
a	O
requirements	O
specification	O
,	O
a	O
dependency	O
graph	O
browser	O
to	O
display	O
variable	O
dependencies	O
,	O
a	O
consistency	O
checker	O
to	O
catch	O
missing	O
cases	O
in	O
well-formed	O
formulas	O
in	O
the	O
specification	O
,	O
a	O
model	B-Application
checker	I-Application
and	O
a	O
theorem	B-Application
prover	I-Application
to	O
check	O
program	O
properties	O
against	O
the	O
specification	O
,	O
and	O
an	O
invariant	O
generator	O
that	O
automatically	O
constructs	O
invariants	O
based	O
on	O
the	O
requirements	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
newer	O
development	O
is	O
language-oriented	B-Application
programming	I-Application
,	O
an	O
integrated	O
software	B-General_Concept
engineering	I-General_Concept
methodology	O
based	O
mainly	O
on	O
creating	O
,	O
optimizing	O
,	O
and	O
using	O
domain-specific	B-Language
languages	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Complementing	O
language-oriented	B-Application
programming	I-Application
,	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
all	O
other	O
forms	O
of	O
domain-specific	B-Language
languages	I-Language
,	O
are	O
the	O
class	O
of	O
compiler	O
writing	O
tools	O
called	O
metacompilers	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
metacompiler	B-Language
is	O
not	O
only	O
useful	O
for	O
generating	O
parsers	B-Language
and	O
code	B-Application
generators	I-Application
for	O
domain-specific	B-Language
languages	I-Language
,	O
but	O
a	O
metacompiler	B-Language
itself	O
compiles	O
a	O
domain-specific	O
metalanguage	O
specifically	O
designed	O
for	O
the	O
domain	B-General_Concept
of	O
metaprogramming	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Besides	O
parsing	O
domain-specific	B-Language
languages	I-Language
,	O
metacompilers	B-Language
are	O
useful	O
for	O
generating	O
a	O
wide	O
range	O
of	O
software	B-General_Concept
engineering	I-General_Concept
and	O
analysis	O
tools	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
meta-compiler	O
methodology	O
is	O
often	O
found	O
in	O
program	B-Application
transformation	I-Application
systems	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Metacompilers	B-Language
that	O
played	O
a	O
significant	O
role	O
in	O
both	O
computer	O
science	O
and	O
the	O
computer	O
industry	O
include	O
Meta-II	B-Application
,	O
and	O
its	O
descendant	O
TreeMeta	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Unreal	B-Application
and	O
Unreal	B-Operating_System
Tournament	I-Operating_System
unveiled	O
a	O
language	O
called	O
UnrealScript	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
allowed	O
for	O
rapid	O
development	O
of	O
modifications	O
compared	O
to	O
the	O
competitor	O
Quake	B-Application
(	O
using	O
the	O
Id	B-Application
Tech	I-Application
2	I-Application
engine	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Id	O
Tech	O
engine	O
used	O
standard	O
C	B-Language
code	O
meaning	O
C	B-Language
had	O
to	O
be	O
learned	O
and	O
properly	O
applied	O
,	O
while	O
UnrealScript	O
was	O
optimized	O
for	O
ease	O
of	O
use	O
and	O
efficiency	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Similarly	O
,	O
the	O
development	O
of	O
more	O
recent	O
games	O
introduced	O
their	O
own	O
specific	O
languages	O
,	O
one	O
more	O
common	O
example	O
is	O
Lua	B-Language
for	O
scripting	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
ILOG	O
,	O
Oracle	B-Application
Policy	I-Application
Automation	I-Application
,	O
DTRules	O
,	O
Drools	B-Language
and	O
others	O
provide	O
support	O
for	O
DSLs	O
aimed	O
to	O
support	O
various	O
problem	O
domains	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Statistical	O
modelers	O
have	O
developed	O
domain-specific	B-Language
languages	I-Language
such	O
as	O
R	B-Language
(	O
an	O
implementation	O
of	O
the	O
S	B-Language
language	I-Language
)	O
,	O
</s>
<s>
Bugs	B-Algorithm
,	O
Jags	B-Application
,	O
and	O
Stan	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Generate	O
object	O
handling	O
and	O
services	O
based	O
on	O
an	O
Interface	B-General_Concept
Description	I-General_Concept
Language	I-General_Concept
for	O
a	O
domain-specific	B-Language
language	I-Language
such	O
as	O
JavaScript	O
for	O
web	O
applications	O
,	O
HTML	B-Language
for	O
documentation	O
,	O
C++	B-Language
for	O
high-performance	O
code	O
,	O
etc	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
is	O
done	O
by	O
cross-language	O
frameworks	O
such	O
as	O
Apache	B-Protocol
Thrift	I-Protocol
or	O
Google	B-Protocol
Protocol	I-Protocol
Buffers	I-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
meant	O
to	O
be	O
read	O
and	O
used	O
by	O
non-technical	O
users	O
using	O
a	O
natural	O
language	O
syntax	O
and	O
a	O
line-oriented	B-Language
design	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
tests	O
defined	O
with	O
Gherkin	O
must	O
then	O
be	O
implemented	O
in	O
a	O
general	B-General_Concept
programming	I-General_Concept
language	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Other	O
prominent	O
examples	O
of	O
domain-specific	B-Language
languages	I-Language
include	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
Domain-specific	B-Language
languages	I-Language
allow	O
solutions	O
to	O
be	O
expressed	O
in	O
the	O
idiom	O
and	O
at	O
the	O
level	O
of	O
abstraction	O
of	O
the	O
problem	O
domain	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
idea	O
is	O
that	O
domain	B-General_Concept
experts	O
themselves	O
may	O
understand	O
,	O
validate	O
,	O
modify	O
,	O
and	O
often	O
even	O
develop	O
domain-specific	B-Language
language	I-Language
programs	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Domain-specific	B-Language
languages	I-Language
allow	O
validation	O
at	O
the	O
domain	B-General_Concept
level	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Domain-specific	B-Language
languages	I-Language
can	O
help	O
to	O
shift	O
the	O
development	O
of	O
business	O
information	O
systems	O
from	O
traditional	O
software	O
developers	O
to	O
the	O
typically	O
larger	O
group	O
of	O
domain-experts	O
who	O
(	O
despite	O
having	O
less	O
technical	O
expertise	O
)	O
have	O
a	O
deeper	O
knowledge	O
of	O
the	O
domain	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Domain-specific	B-Language
languages	I-Language
are	O
easier	O
to	O
learn	O
,	O
given	O
their	O
limited	O
scope	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Difficulty	O
of	O
balancing	O
trade-offs	O
between	O
domain-specificity	O
and	O
general-purpose	O
programming	O
language	O
constructs	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Potential	O
loss	O
of	O
processor	O
efficiency	B-General_Concept
compared	O
with	O
hand-coded	O
software	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Proliferation	O
of	O
similar	O
non-standard	O
domain-specific	B-Language
languages	I-Language
,	O
for	O
example	O
,	O
a	O
DSL	O
used	O
within	O
one	O
insurance	O
company	O
versus	O
a	O
DSL	O
used	O
within	O
another	O
insurance	O
company	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Non-technical	O
domain	B-General_Concept
experts	O
can	O
find	O
it	O
hard	O
to	O
write	O
or	O
modify	O
DSL	O
programs	O
by	O
themselves	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Increased	O
difficulty	O
of	O
integrating	O
the	O
DSL	O
with	O
other	O
components	O
of	O
the	O
IT	O
system	O
(	O
as	O
compared	O
to	O
integrating	O
with	O
a	O
general-purpose	B-General_Concept
language	I-General_Concept
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
JetBrains	B-Application
MPS	I-Application
is	O
a	O
tool	O
for	O
designing	O
domain-specific	B-Language
languages	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
uses	O
projectional	B-Application
editing	I-Application
which	O
allows	O
overcoming	O
the	O
limits	O
of	O
language	O
parsers	B-Language
and	O
building	O
DSL	O
editors	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
ones	O
with	O
tables	O
and	O
diagrams	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
implements	O
language-oriented	B-Application
programming	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
MPS	O
combines	O
an	O
environment	O
for	O
language	O
definition	O
,	O
a	O
language	B-Application
workbench	I-Application
,	O
and	O
an	O
Integrated	B-Application
Development	I-Application
Environment	I-Application
(	O
IDE	B-Application
)	O
for	O
such	O
languages	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
MontiCore	O
is	O
a	O
language	B-Application
workbench	I-Application
for	O
the	O
efficient	O
development	O
of	O
domain-specific	B-Language
languages	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Xtext	B-Application
is	O
an	O
open-source	O
software	O
framework	O
for	O
developing	O
programming	O
languages	O
and	O
domain-specific	B-Language
languages	I-Language
(	O
DSLs	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Unlike	O
standard	O
parser	B-Language
generators	I-Language
,	O
Xtext	B-Application
generates	O
not	O
only	O
a	O
parser	B-Language
but	O
also	O
a	O
class	O
model	O
for	O
the	O
abstract	O
syntax	O
tree	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
addition	O
,	O
it	O
provides	O
a	O
fully	O
featured	O
,	O
customizable	O
Eclipse-based	O
IDE	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Racket	B-Operating_System
is	O
a	O
cross-platform	O
language	O
toolchain	O
including	O
native	O
code	O
,	O
JIT	O
and	O
Javascript	O
compiler	O
,	O
IDE	B-Application
(	O
in	O
addition	O
to	O
supporting	O
Emacs	O
,	O
Vim	O
,	O
VSCode	O
and	O
others	O
)	O
and	O
command	O
line	O
tools	O
designed	O
to	O
accommodate	O
creating	O
both	O
domain-specific	O
and	O
general	O
purpose	O
languages	O
.	O
</s>
