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Specification, Implementation, and Verification of Domain Specific Languages: A Logic Programming-Based Approach

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Computational Logic: Logic Programming and Beyond

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 2407))

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Abstract

Domain Specific Languages (DSLs) are high level languages designed for solving problems in a particular domain, and have been suggested as means for developing reliable software systems. We present a (constraint) logic programming-based framework for specification, efficient implementation, and automatic verification of domain specific languages (DSLs). Our framework is based on using Horn logic (or pure Prolog), and eventually constraints, to specify denotational semantics of domain specific languages. Both the syntax as well as the semantic specification of the DSL in question are directly executable in our framework: the specification itself serves as an interpreter for the DSL. More efficient implementations of this DSL—a compiler—can be automatically derived via partial evaluation. Additionally, the executable specification can be used for automatic or semi-automatic verification of programs written in the DSL as well as for automatically obtaining traditional debuggers and profilers. The ability to verify DSL programs is a distinct advantage of our approach. In this paper we give a general outline of our approach, and illustrate it with practical examples.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Applied Logic, Programming Languages and Systems Lab Department of Computer Science, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, USA, 95083

    Gopal Gupta

  2. Laboratory for Logic, Databases, and Advanced Programming Department of Computer Science, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, USA, 88003

    Enrico Pontelli

Authors
  1. Gopal Gupta
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  2. Enrico Pontelli
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, University of Cyprus, 75 Kallipoleos St., 1678, Nicosia, Cyprus

    Antonis C. Kakas

  2. Department of Computing, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, 180 Queen’s Gate, London, SW7 2BZ, UK

    Fariba Sadri

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© 2002 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Gupta, G., Pontelli, E. (2002). Specification, Implementation, and Verification of Domain Specific Languages: A Logic Programming-Based Approach. In: Kakas, A.C., Sadri, F. (eds) Computational Logic: Logic Programming and Beyond. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 2407. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45628-7_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45628-7_10

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-43959-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-45628-5

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