Improving Domain-specific Language Reuse through Software Product-line Configuration Techniques

It is time consuming to develop a domain-specific language (DSL) or a composition of DSLs to model a system concern, such as deploying and configuring software components to meet real-time scheduling constraints. Ideally , developers should be able to reuse DSLs and DSL compositions across projects to amortize development effort. It can be hard to reuse DSLs, however, since they are often designed to precisely describe a single domain or concern. This paper presents an approach that uses techniques from software product-lines (SPLs) to improve the reusability o f a DSL, DSL composition, and/or supporting tool. We present a case study of four DSLs we have developed to evaluate the need for—and benefits of—applying SPL reuse techniques