Configuring component-based specifications for domain-specific languages

The "Jacob" system supports language design processes on a very high level of abstraction, enabling experts from application domains to design their own domain-specific languages (DSLs). The system provides a representation of the language design space for a certain application domain. The user specifies his language design by composing and configuring language components. During this design process, the Jacob system checks the consistency of user decisions. The language components are provided by an expert in the field of computer languages and their implementation. Such a component consist of two parts: the implementation part defines how a given language feature is implemented. The interface part specifies relations and dependences between different components, e.g. to constrain the way different language features can be combined. This paper presents component-based DSL design using the Jacob system and discusses some example applications.