Conference on Domain-Specific Languages

October 15-17, 1997 Red Lion Resort
Santa Barbara, California

Important Dates

Papers due : June 13, 1997
Author notification: July 10, 1997
Camera-ready final papers due: September 2, 1997

Program Committee

Chris Ramming - AT&T Labs (Program Chair)

Thomas Ball - Lucent Bell Laboratories
Gerard Berry- CMA, Ecole des Mines de Paris
Jon Bentley - Lucent Bell Laboratories
Peter Buneman - University of Pennsylvania
Luca Cardelli - Digital Equipment Corporation
Steve Johnson - Transmeta Corporation
Takayuki Dan Kimura - Washington University
Todd Knoblock - Microsoft Research
David Ladd - Spyglass (Speaker Chair)
Adam Porter - University of Maryland
Jan Prins - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Introduction

Language is central to the discipline of software engineering. Programmers use a variety of languages in their daily work, and new languages appear frequently. This proliferation is not gratuitous: each new language offers specific solutions to genuine software problems. However, not all languages address the problem of general-purpose computing: domain-specific languages (DSLs) are explicitly designed to cover only a narrow class of problems, while offering compelling advantages within that class. This conference is dedicated to the discussion of the unique aspects of DSL design, DSL implementation, and the use of DSLs in software engineering.

Domain-specific languages give rise to a number of questions. What are the design principles for the creation of new DSLs? How can the process of DSL design be codified and structured? What roles can domain-specific languages play in software engineering? How does the use of domain-specific languages affect software engineering process? What are the tools, environments, and techniques needed to support the use of domain-specific languages? What are the concrete technical advantages and disadvantages of domain-specific languages? What are the economic costs and benefits of domain-specific languages? These and other questions are the focus of this conference on domain-specific languages.

The conference seeks to advance the practice of DSL design, DSL implementation, and software engineering generally by:

• eliciting examples of successful domain-specific languages
• highlighting the spectrum of benefits which domain-specific languages can provide
• discovering design principles and methodologies for creating DSLs
• eliciting design techniques and tools for working with domain-specific languages throughout the software engineering lifecycle
• providing a framework within which language designers from different domains can easily communicate
• establishing the practical value of domain-specific languages through the publication of empirical data concerning productivity, quality, and maintainability
• creating a community that will continue to study and refine the practice of software engineering through domain-specific languages

Conference Topics

The technical sessions will include refereed papers, invited talks, and Birds-of-a-Feather (BoF) sessions. We seek papers that draw on experience in a wide variety of areas, including but not limited to the following topics.

• formal methods
• software design and architecture
• declarative languages
• software engineering
• software process
• database languages
• program analysis and automated transformation
• computer architecture
• design process and languages
• visual languages and environments
• hardware specification languages
• parallel computing languages
• type theory
• distributed computing languages
• testing
• prototyping

Paper Criteria

Papers, which will be published in a proceedings, will be judged on the depth of their insight and the extent to which they translate specific experience into general lessons for domain-specific language designers, and implementers, and software engineers.

Papers can range from the practical to the theoretical; papers should refer to actual languages, tools, and techniques with pointers to full definitions and implementations where possible. Empirical data on results should be included where possible.

How to Submit a Paper

Technical paper submissions must be received by June 13, 1997. Full papers are requested and should be 10 to 15 pages (around 5,000-6,000 words).

All submissions will be judged on originality, relevance, and correctness. Each accepted submission will be assigned a member of the program committee to shepherd preparation of the final paper. The assigned member will act as a conduit for feedback from the committee to the authors. Camera-ready final papers are due September 2, 1997.

Each submission must include a cover letter stating the paper title and authors along with the name of the person who will act as the contact to the program committee. Please include a surface mail address, daytime and evening phone number, an email address, and fax number for the contact person.

If you would like to receive detailed guidelines for submission send email to dslauthors@usenix.org.

For a complete set of guidelines for submission, please click here: Guidelines.

The DSL conference, like most conferences and journals, requires that papers not be submitted simultaneously to another conference or publication and that submitted papers not be previously or subsequently published elsewhere. Papers accompanied by "non-disclosure agreement" forms are not acceptable and will be returned to the author(s) unread. All submissions are held in the highest confidentiality prior to publication in the Proceedings, both as a matter of policy and in accord with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976.

Please send one copy of a full paper to the program committee via one of the following methods. All submissions will be acknowledged.

• Preferred Method: email (Postscript) to dslpapers@usenix.org
• Alternate Method: postal delivery to
• DSL Conference
  c/o Chris Ramming
  USENIX Association
  2560 Ninth Street, Suite 215
  Berkeley CA 94710
  Phone: 510.528.8649
  Fax: 510.548.5738
  

Invited Speakers

• Wednesday: Paul Hudak - Yale University
• Thursday: Charles Simonyi - Chief Architect, Microsoft Corporation
• Thursday: Gerard Berry- CMA, Ecole des Mines de Paris
• Friday: Gregor Kiczales - Principal Scientist, Xerox Palo Alto Research Center

Registration Materials

Materials containing all details of the technical and tutorial programs, registration fees and forms, and hotel information will be available beginning in August, 1997. If you wish to receive the registration materials, please contact USENIX at:

USENIX Conference Office
22672 Lambert Street, Suite 613
Lake Forest, CA USA 92630
714 588-8649;
Fax: 714 .588.9706
Email: conference@usenix.org