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International Symposium on Leveraging Applications of Formal Methods

ISoLA 2018: Leveraging Applications of Formal Methods, Verification and Validation. Modeling pp 279–294Cite as

Design Languages: A Necessary New Generation of Computer Languages

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Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNTCS,volume 11244))

Abstract

With the increased demand for so-called “smart” systems, which are required to interact with the physical world in ever more complex ways, we are witnessing a corresponding growth in the complexity of the software that is at the core of such systems. Keeping pace with this rise in complexity is proving to be a challenge for current mainstream programming technologies, whose origins are typically rooted in increasingly outdated computing paradigms that can be traced to some of the earliest applications of computers (e.g., solving numerical problems). This paper first examines some of the salient shortcomings of current mainstream programming technologies; shortcomings that render them unsuitable for addressing modern software applications. This is followed by a discussion of emerging and necessary trends in computer language development, which point to a brand new generation of languages, called design languages. The primary technical requirements for these new languages are identified, and certain pragmatic and socio-economic issues associated with their introduction into industrial practice are reviewed. The paper concludes with a high-level summary of crucial research topics required to realize the full potential of these languages.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See, for example, the “Smart Anything Everywhere” initiative that is part of the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Programme (https://smartanythingeverywhere.eu).

  2. 2.

    Author’s emphasis.

  3. 3.

    Mathematical approaches to software are often more focused on reaching qualitative conclusions that abstract out the quantitative aspects. However, in engineering the quantitative is often a fundamental concern.

  4. 4.

    See http://www-users.math.umn.edu/~arnold/disasters/disasters.html.

  5. 5.

    See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Climate_Orbiter.

  6. 6.

    In contrast to pseudo-concurrency, which can be controlled.

  7. 7.

    While architectural description languages do exist, they are either informal or not formally coupled to the mainstream language programs that realize them.

  8. 8.

    This form is preferred to the more common “domain-specific language” because it more clearly identifies how the language is intended to be used and also avoids possible misinterpretations that the older term might carry in some circles.

  9. 9.

    https://martinfowler.com/bliki/UmlAsSketch.html.

  10. 10.

    See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flowchart.

  11. 11.

    See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nassi%E2%80%93Shneiderman_diagram.

  12. 12.

    See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth-generation_programming_language.

  13. 13.

    This can be deduced from the widely used term “syntactic sugar”, which implies that syntax is merely a superfluous adornment that is not needed by “macho” programmers.

  14. 14.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth-generation_programming_language.

  15. 15.

    This is not to say that the extension mechanism need necessarily be based on the UML profile mechanism, which is possibly not the best technical solution to language extensibility.

  16. 16.

    https://www.omg.org/spec/category/uml-profile.

  17. 17.

    See for example: https://www.scrumalliance.org/community/articles/2016/october/what-we-really-know-about-successful-projects.

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Acknowledgement

The author would like to thank Dr. Manfred Broy for helpful suggestions on how the text could be improved.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Malina Software Corp., Nepean, ON, K2J 2J3, Canada

    Bran Selić

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  1. Bran Selić
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Correspondence to Bran Selić .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland

    Tiziana Margaria

  2. TU Dortmund, Dortmund, Germany

    Bernhard Steffen

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Selić, B. (2018). Design Languages: A Necessary New Generation of Computer Languages. In: Margaria, T., Steffen, B. (eds) Leveraging Applications of Formal Methods, Verification and Validation. Modeling. ISoLA 2018. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 11244. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03418-4_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03418-4_17

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-03418-4

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