1. A Model-Based
Approach to Language
Integration
Federico Tomassetti
Antonio Vetro’
Marco Torchiano
Markus Völter,
Bernd Kolb
MiSE 2013

2. Problem

3. Problem
Is my XML configuration file referring to
an existing Java class?
Does the HTML and the CSS file specify
the same selector or is there a typo?

4. Most IDE do not
guarantee consistency
• Tools guarantee consistency at
intra-language level
• e.g. a java class extends another Java class which exists
• Tools do not check for global consistency:
the editor of each language is not aware of
the semantics of another language
• e.g., the XML editor does not know how to check for
a Java class existence

5. Existing solutions are
very specific
An editor for Android configuration files

6. Goal
Achieving language
integration using
language workbenches

7. Type of interactions
• There are different type of interactions
(actually we are currently working on a
classification system)
• Here we consider the most common:
cross-reference

8. Example: context
Consider a framework for logging.
In the configuration file we set
the verbosity level for each class.

9. Example: context
• Class could be misspelled
•The class could be later renamed or deleted

10. Example: MPS
We used the MetaProgramming System
from Jetbrains.
It is a Language Workbench based on a
projectional editor.

11. Example: implementation
We create the new concept which
represents a reference to a Java Class
inside an XML file.

12. Example: implementation
Auto completion is provided

13. Example: implementation
Broken reference are automatically
recognized

14. Example: implementation
Pure XML code can be generated at any time

15. Future work
Empirical assessment: we performed some initial
evaluation (see EASE’12) but more evidence on the
effects of language interactions is needed.
Categorization of interactions: cross reference is the
most common mechanism but there are others. Which
types there are? How common they are?
Queries: inside a LW formulating queries about my
system in a cross-language fashion (e.g., which XML files
are referring to my Java class?)

16. Thank you!
A Model-Based Approach
to Language Integration
Federico Tomassetti, Antonio Vetro’, Marco
Torchiano
Markus Völter, Bernd Kolb