Document-oriented software construction based on domain-specific markup languages

Abstract

In this paper we present ADDS (approach to document-oriented development of software), our solution to software construction based on domain-specific languages (DSLs). DSLs in ADDS are formulated as descriptive domain-specific markup languages (DSMLs) that are used for marking up the documents that describe the relevant aspects of the applications (e.g. data and some aspects of the behavior). Final running applications are obtained by the processing of these documents with suitable processors. ADDS promotes the incremental development of DSMLs and their processors, so they can evolve according to the authoring needs of the different participants in the development process (domain experts and developers). The incremental nature of ADDS is eased by its document orientation. Thus ADDS palliates the high costs of formulation, operationalization and maintenance of DSLs exhibited by other approaches.