VisualLISA: A visual environment to develop attribute grammars

Abstract

The focus of this paper is on crafting a new visual language for attribute grammars (AGs), and on the development of the associated programming environment. We present a solution for rapid development of VisualLISA editor using DEViL. DEViL uses traditional attribute grammars, to specify the language's syntax and semantics, extended by visual representations to be associated with grammar symbols. From these specifications a visual programming environment is automatically generated. In our case, the environment allows us to edit a visual description of an AG that is automatically translated into textual notations, including an XML-based representation for attribute grammars (XAGra), and is intended to be helpful for beginners and rapid development of small AGs. XAGra allows us to use VisualLISA with other compiler-compiler tools.

A DSL for modeling application-specific functionalities of business applications

“…Therefore, this approach to DSL development is the most suitable from the end-user perspective. On the other hand, development efforts may be substantially reduced using compiler generators, e.g., ANTRL [22] and VisualLISA [23,24].…”

Ontological approach for DSL development

“…1 The final grammar can later be used for the development of DSL tools that are developed with the use of language development tools (i.e. LISA [19], VisualLISA [21], etc.). Our proposal has the same objectives as those of Ontology2DSL, however we did some improvements: small number of steps along the generation process; reduction of the user dependency; validation of the resulting grammar; use of an output format for the new grammar that is compatible with commonly used compiler generators; generation of semantic actions associated with the context free grammar in order to process the new DSL sentences (programs) and generation of a DSL program template.…”