Domain-specific Markup Languages Research Articles

A Domain-Specific Language for generating tasks from Programs Source Code

Approaches to task generation for various disciplines are discussed, mentioned that a parameter method cannot be applied to programming. The authors developed an application of the idea of a constructive-selective method for creating programming tasks. A task created for constructive-selective methodical contains a set of components, from which a student makes up his answer (a program). Application of this method allows diversifying of tasks in programming and creates a new way of assessment based on the content of the answer. It’s also allows to grade both fully and partially correct answers. The main concepts of the model for representing programming tasks are illustrated by examples. The domain-specific markup language and its translator that allows generating tasks from a teacher’s program source text are proposed. An example of a translator usage is given.

Discovering interesting information with advances in web technology

The Web is a steadily evolving resource comprising much more than mere HTML pages. With its ever-growing data sources in a variety of formats, it provides great potential for knowledge discovery. In this article, we shed light on some interesting phenomena of the Web: the deep Web, which surfaces database records as Web pages; the Semantic Web, which defines meaningful data exchange formats; XML, which has established itself as a lingua franca for Web data exchange; and domain-specific markup languages, which are designed based on XML syntax with the goal of preserving semantics in targeted domains. We detail these four developments in Web technology, and explain how they can be used for data mining. Our goal is to show that all these areas can be as useful for knowledge discovery as the HTML-based part of the Web.

Domain-specific markup languages and descriptive metadata: their functions in scientific resource discovery

While metadata has been a strong focus within information professionals’ publications, projects, and initiatives during the last two decades, a significant number of domain-specific markup languages have also been developing on a parallel path at the same rate as metadata standards; yet, they do not receive comparable attention. This essay discusses the functions of these two kinds of approaches in scientific resource discovery and points out their potential complementary roles through appropriate interoperability approaches.

Improving Interoperability by Incorporating UnitsML Into Markup Languages.

Maintaining the integrity of analytical data over time is a challenge. Years ago, data were recorded on paper that was pasted directly into a laboratory notebook. The digital age has made maintaining the integrity of data harder. Nowadays, digitized analytical data are often separated from information about how the sample was collected and prepared for analysis and how the data were acquired. The data are stored on digital media, while the related information about the data may be written in a paper notebook or stored separately in other digital files. Sometimes the connection between this “scientific meta-data” and the analytical data is lost, rendering the spectrum or chromatogram useless. We have been working with ASTM Subcommittee E13.15 on Analytical Data to create the Analytical Information Markup Language or AnIML—a new way to interchange and store spectroscopy and chromatography data based on XML (Extensible Markup Language). XML is a language for describing what data are by enclosing them in computer-useable tags. Recording the units associated with the analytical data and metadata is an essential issue for any data representation scheme that must be addressed by all domain-specific markup languages. As scientific markup languages proliferate, it is very desirable to have a single scheme for handling units to facilitate moving information between different data domains.At NIST, we have been developing a general markup language just for units that we call UnitsML. This presentation will describe how UnitsML is used and how it is being incorporated into AnIML.

A Document-Oriented Paradigm for the Construction of Content-Intensive Applications

In this paper we describe our work on the formulation of a document-oriented paradigm for improving the construction and maintenance of content-intensive applications (i.e. applications that make intensive use of the information provided by the experts in a given domain: the contents). According to this paradigm, the development of a content-intensive application must be the result of close collaboration between two kinds of actors: domain experts and developers. The goal of this collaboration is the authoring of (i) a set of documents describing the most relevant aspects of the application (i.e. the contents and other relevant customizable features); (ii) a grammar describing a domain-specific markup language that will be used to make the structure and the data in these documents explicit and (iii) a suitable processor for this language. The final running application will be automatically produced by processing the marked documents with this processor. The use of this paradigm in the development of content-intensive applications can increase the initial cost of application production, but in the long run it can substantially improve maintenance and portability, and promote information and software reuse as well. We have successfully applied this paradigm to the development of educational and hypermedia applications, and knowledge-based systems. From these experiences, we have found that the feasibility of the paradigm depends to a great extent on having mechanisms that enable the incremental definition of the markup languages and the incremental construction of their processors. This has led us to the formulation of a document-oriented approach for the development of content-intensive applications tightly coupled with these principles of incremental formulation and operationalization of domain-specific markup languages.

Incremental definition and operationalization of domain-specific markup languages in ADDS

ADDS is our proposal for the development of content-intensive applications. Applications in ADDS are produced by processing documents that describe their main aspects and that have been marked up using application-dependent, Domain-Specific Markup Languages (DSMLs). To make ADDS of practical value, we promote the incremental definition of DSMLs, as well as their incremental operationalization (i.e. the incremental construction of their processors). In this paper we describe how this incremental definition is carried out by using a technique called PADDS (DSML Provision in ADDS), and how incremental operationalization is accomplished using a model called OADDS (Operationalization in ADDS).

DOCUMENT-ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT OF CONTENT-INTENSIVE APPLICATIONS

In this paper we promote a document-oriented approach to the development of content-intensive applications (i.e., applications that critically depend on the informational contents and on the characterization of the contents' structure). This approach is the result of our experience as developers in the educational and in the hypermedia domains, as well as in the domain of knowledge-based systems. The main reason for choosing the document-oriented approach is to make it easier for domain experts to comprehend the elements that represent the main application's features. Among these elements are: the application's contents, the application's customizable properties including those of its interface, and the structure of all this information. Therefore, in our approach, these features are represented by means of a set of application documents, which are marked up using a suitable descriptive Domain-Specific Markup Language (DSML). If this goal is fully accomplished, the application itself can be automatically produced by processing those documents with a suitable processor for the DSML defined. The document-oriented development enhances the production and maintenance of content-intensive applications, because the applications' features are described in the form of human-readable and editable documents, understandable by domain experts and suitable for automatic processing. Nevertheless, the main drawbacks of the approach are the planning overload of the whole production process and the costs of the provision and maintenance of the DSMLs and their processors. These drawbacks can be palliated by adopting an incremental strategy for the production and maintenance of the applications and also for the definition and the operationalization of the DSMLs.

Evolution of Web-Based Applications Using Domain-Specific Markup Languages

The lifecycle of Web-based applications is characterized by frequent changes to content, user interface, and functionality. Updating content, improving the services provided to users, drives further development of a Web-based application. The major goal for the success of a Web-based application becomes therefore its evolution. Though, development and maintenance of Web-based applications suffers from the underlying document-based implementation model. A disciplined evolution of Web based applications requires the application of software engineering practice for systematic further development and reuse of software artifacts. In this contribution we suggest to adopt the component paradigm to development and evolution of Web-based applications. The approach is based on a dedicated component technology and component-software architecture. It allows abstracting from many technical aspects related to the Web as an application platform by introducing domain specific markup languages. These languages allow the description of services, which represent domain components in our Web-component-software approach. Domain experts with limited knowledge of technical details can therefore describe application functionality and the evolution of orthogonal aspects of the application can be de-coupled. The whole approach is based on XML to achieve the necessary standardization and economic efficiency for the use in real world projects.