Grammar-driven generation of domajin-specific language debuggers

Domain-specific languages (DSLs) assist a software developer (or end-user) in writing a program using idioms that are similar to the abstractions round in a specific problem domain. Tool support for DSIs is lacking when compared with the capabilities provided for standard general-purpose languages (GPLs), such as Java and C++. For example, support for debugging a program written in a DSL is often non-existent. The lack of a debugger at the proper abstraction level limits an end-user's ability to discover and locate faults in a DSL program. This paper describes a grammar-driven technique to build a debugging tool generation framework from existing DSL grammars. The DSL grammars are used to generate the hooks needed to interface with a supporting infrastructure constructed for an integrated development environment that assists in debugging a program written in a DSL. The contribution represents a coordinated approach to bring essential software tools (e.g. debuggers) to different types of DSLs (e.g. imperative, declarative, and hybrid). This approach hides from the end-users the accidental complexities associated with expanding the focus of a language environment to include debuggers. The research described in this paper addresses a long-term goal of empowering end-users with development tools for particular DSL problem domains at the proper level of abstraction without depending on a specific GPL. Copyright (C) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.