WebDSL: A Domain-Specific Language for Web Applications

April 30, 2009

I have been invited to give a talk at the Sixth International Workshop on Web Information Systems Modeling (WISM 2009), which will be held in June in Amsterdam (co-located with CAiSE 2009). Here’s the abstract I wrote for the talk.

Abstract In this talk I give an overview of the design and application of WebDSL, a domain-specific language for data centric web applications. WebDSL linguistically integrates the definition of data models, user interfaces, actions, access control rules, data validation rules, styling rules, and workflow definitions. While maintaining separation between these concerns through specialized sub-languages, linguistic integration ensures static consistency checking and correct code generation. The language allows developers to concentrate on the essential design of web applications, abstracting from accidental complexity, such as the details of data persistence. The combination of high-level and low-level constructs ensures high expressivity, while supporting customization to application requirements. The application of WebDSL is illustrated using the researchr.org application for bibliography sharing and reviewing.

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