QReal DSM platform - An Environment for Creation of Specific Visual IDEs

Abstract

This article describes a QReal technology designed for rapid creation of domain-specific languages (“DSL”). Domain-specific modeling (“DSM”) is a promising paradigm which provides enhanced development productivity (3 to 10 times in selected cases compared to common development methodologies). This fact contributes to the interest in the DSM support tools. QReal is a research project having an objective of creating a prototype of such a tool. Overview of QReal basic metamodeling capabilities such as abstract and concrete syntax definition is provided in the article, as well as the description of some advanced capabilities such as defining semantics of visual language, constraints and refactoring support. Two cases of successful application of this technology to creating domain-specific solutions are presented and future work directions are addressed.