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Domain-Specific Program Generation pp 51–72Cite as

DSL Implementation in MetaOCaml, Template Haskell, and C++

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Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 3016))

Abstract

A wide range of domain-specific languages (DSLs) has been implemented successfully by embedding them in general purpose languages. This paper reviews embedding, and summarizes how two alternative techniques – staged interpreters and templates – can be used to overcome the limitations of embedding. Both techniques involve a form of generative programming. The paper reviews and compares three programming languages that have special support for generative programming. Two of these languages (MetaOCaml and Template Haskell) are research languages, while the third (C++) is already in wide industrial use. The paper identifies several dimensions that can serve as a basis for comparing generative languages.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Waterloo, Canada

    Krzysztof Czarnecki

  2. University of Glasgow, United Kingdom

    John T. O’Donnell

  3. Research Centre Jülich, Germany

    Jörg Striegnitz

  4. Rice University, USA

    Walid Taha

Authors
  1. Krzysztof Czarnecki
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  2. John T. O’Donnell
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  3. Jörg Striegnitz
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  4. Walid Taha
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Informatics and Mathematics, University of Passau,  

    Christian Lengauer

  2. University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA

    Don Batory

  3. INRIA/LaBRI, Domaine universitaire, 351, cours de la Libération, F-33402, Talence Cedex

    Charles Consel

  4. EPFL, 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Martin Odersky

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Czarnecki, K., O’Donnell, J.T., Striegnitz, J., Taha, W. (2004). DSL Implementation in MetaOCaml, Template Haskell, and C++. In: Lengauer, C., Batory, D., Consel, C., Odersky, M. (eds) Domain-Specific Program Generation. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 3016. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-25935-0_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-25935-0_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-22119-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-25935-0

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