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Bootstrapping domain-specific meta-languages in language workbenches

Authors:

Gabriël Konat,

Sebastian Erdweg,

Eelco VisserAuthors Info & Claims

ACM SIGPLAN Notices, Volume 52, Issue 3

Pages 47 - 58

https://doi.org/10.1145/3093335.2993242

Published: 20 October 2016 Publication History

Abstract

It is common practice to bootstrap compilers of programming languages. By using the compiled language to implement the compiler, compiler developers can code in their own high-level language and gain a large-scale test case. In this paper, we investigate bootstrapping of compiler-compilers as they occur in language workbenches. Language workbenches support the development of compilers through the application of multiple collaborating domain-specific meta-languages for defining a language's syntax, analysis, code generation, and editor support. We analyze the bootstrapping problem of language workbenches in detail, propose a method for sound bootstrapping based on fixpoint compilation, and show how to conduct breaking meta-language changes in a bootstrapped language workbench. We have applied sound bootstrapping to the Spoofax language workbench and report on our experience.

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Cited By

Prinz AMezei G(2020)The Art of BootstrappingModel-Driven Engineering and Software Development10.1007/978-3-030-37873-8_8(182-200)Online publication date: 3-Jan-2020
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37873-8_8
Barash MVisser EKolovos DSöderberg E(2021)Vision: the next 700 language workbenchesProceedings of the 14th ACM SIGPLAN International Conference on Software Language Engineering10.1145/3486608.3486907(16-21)Online publication date: 17-Oct-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3486608.3486907

Index Terms

Bootstrapping domain-specific meta-languages in language workbenches
1. Software and its engineering
  1. Software notations and tools
    1. Compilers

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Information & Contributors

Information

Published In

cover image ACM SIGPLAN Notices

ACM SIGPLAN Notices Volume 52, Issue 3

GPCE '16

March 2017

212 pages

ISSN:0362-1340

EISSN:1558-1160

DOI:10.1145/3093335

Editor:
Matthew Fluet

Issue’s Table of Contents

GPCE 2016: Proceedings of the 2016 ACM SIGPLAN International Conference on Generative Programming: Concepts and Experiences
October 2016
212 pages
ISBN:9781450344463
DOI:10.1145/2993236
General Chair:
Bernd Fischer
Stellenbosch University, South Africa
,
Program Chair:
Ina Schaefer
TU Braunschweig, Germany

Copyright © 2016 Owner/Author.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License.

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 20 October 2016

Published in SIGPLAN Volume 52, Issue 3

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Cited By

Prinz AMezei G(2020)The Art of BootstrappingModel-Driven Engineering and Software Development10.1007/978-3-030-37873-8_8(182-200)Online publication date: 3-Jan-2020
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37873-8_8
Barash MVisser EKolovos DSöderberg E(2021)Vision: the next 700 language workbenchesProceedings of the 14th ACM SIGPLAN International Conference on Software Language Engineering10.1145/3486608.3486907(16-21)Online publication date: 17-Oct-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3486608.3486907

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