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π: a pattern language

Authors:

Roman Knöll,

Mira MeziniAuthors Info & Claims

ACM SIGPLAN Notices, Volume 44, Issue 10

Pages 503 - 522

https://doi.org/10.1145/1639949.1640128

Published: 25 October 2009 Publication History

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Abstract

Current programming languages and techniques realize many features which allow their users to extend these languages on a semantic basis: classes, functions, interfaces, aspects and other entities can be defined. However, there is a lack of modern programming languages which are both semantically and syntactically extensible from within the language itself, i.e., with no additional tool or meta-language. In this paper we present π as an approach that aims to overcome this lack. π provides an abstraction mechanism based on parameterized symbols which is capable of semantically and syntactically unifying programming concepts like variables, control-structures, procedures and functions into one concept: the pattern. We have evaluated the abstraction potential and the syntactic extensibility of π by successfully creating patterns for the aforementioned programming concepts. π could serve as a tool for designing new experimental languages and might generally influence the view we have on current programming concepts.

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Cited By

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YASUMOCHI TKATAOKA YKURACHI TEGAWA N(2015)CONVERSION OF PARKING LOTS BY INTRODUCTION OF CAR SHARING IN PUBLIC HOUSING COMPLEXJournal of Architecture and Planning (Transactions of AIJ)10.3130/aija.80.286180:718(2861-2867)Online publication date: 2015
https://doi.org/10.3130/aija.80.2861
Dinkelaker TEichberg MMezini M(2013)Incremental concrete syntax for embedded languages with support for separate compilationScience of Computer Programming10.1016/j.scico.2012.12.00278:6(615-632)Online publication date: Jun-2013
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scico.2012.12.002
Dinkelaker TEichberg MMezini MChu WWong WPalakal MHung C(2011)Incremental concrete syntax for embedded languagesProceedings of the 2011 ACM Symposium on Applied Computing10.1145/1982185.1982470(1309-1316)Online publication date: 21-Mar-2011
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1982185.1982470
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Index Terms

π: a pattern language
1. Software and its engineering
  1. Software notations and tools
    1. General programming languages
      1. Language features
        Patterns
      2. Language types
        Extensible languages

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Reviews

Reviewer: Sergei Gorlatch

This paper describes π, a pattern-based programming language. Based on the observation that programming is all about abstraction, Kn?ll and Mezini introduce patterns as the fundamental and only construct of a so-called pattern language. They define a set of basic features for a pattern language, which includes semantic and syntactic minimality and extensibility. Thus, a pattern language is not only able to resemble any other programming language, but can also overcome limitations of those languages' expressivity. π is an implementation of such a pattern language. The paper gives a thorough step-by-step description of π. Each step introduces new patterns and examples to show how π works and how it actually fulfills the requirements of a pattern language, according to the formal definition. Besides, the examples often refer to π-based implementations of language constructs, such as data types, mathematical operators, and control flow constructs, that are known from other programming languages; this helps readers understand the mechanisms of π more easily. However, the description of the actual implementation of π using Java is a bit too brief. Five use cases are presented to evaluate π's expressivity. The use cases demonstrate that π can express constructs of arbitrary levels of abstraction, up to complete programming languages. The authors also provide a very comprehensive section on related work that is a remarkable overview of recent research directions in programming. This paper is for people who have a good knowledge of programming languages and are interested in future trends of computer programming. Readers with a more technical background might also be interested in the actual implementation of π, but, since the description of the Java implementation of π is rather short, these readers will probably have to look to other sources. Online Computing Reviews Service

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Information

Published In

ACM SIGPLAN Notices Volume 44, Issue 10

OOPSLA '09

October 2009

554 pages

ISSN:0362-1340

EISSN:1558-1160

DOI:10.1145/1639949

Issue’s Table of Contents

OOPSLA '09: Proceedings of the 24th ACM SIGPLAN conference on Object oriented programming systems languages and applications
October 2009
590 pages
ISBN:9781605587660
DOI:10.1145/1640089
General Chair:
Shail Arora
Adayana, Inc.
,
Program Chair:
Gary Leavens
University of Central Florida

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 25 October 2009

Published in SIGPLAN Volume 44, Issue 10

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YASUMOCHI TKATAOKA YKURACHI TEGAWA N(2015)CONVERSION OF PARKING LOTS BY INTRODUCTION OF CAR SHARING IN PUBLIC HOUSING COMPLEXJournal of Architecture and Planning (Transactions of AIJ)10.3130/aija.80.286180:718(2861-2867)Online publication date: 2015
https://doi.org/10.3130/aija.80.2861
Dinkelaker TEichberg MMezini M(2013)Incremental concrete syntax for embedded languages with support for separate compilationScience of Computer Programming10.1016/j.scico.2012.12.00278:6(615-632)Online publication date: Jun-2013
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scico.2012.12.002
Dinkelaker TEichberg MMezini MChu WWong WPalakal MHung C(2011)Incremental concrete syntax for embedded languagesProceedings of the 2011 ACM Symposium on Applied Computing10.1145/1982185.1982470(1309-1316)Online publication date: 21-Mar-2011
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1982185.1982470
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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquatox.2010.02.013
Cazzola WVacchi E(2013)Neverlang 2 – Componentised Language Development for the JVMSoftware Composition10.1007/978-3-642-39614-4_2(17-32)Online publication date: 2013
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-39614-4_2

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