The Fundamentals of Domain-Specific Simulation Language Engineering

Abstract

Simulationists use a plethora of modelling languages. General-purpose languages such as C, extended with simulation constructs, give the user access to abstractions for general-purpose computation and modularization. The learning curve for experts in domains that are far from programming, however, is steep. Languages such as Modelica and DEVS allow for a more intuitive definition of models, often through visual notations and with libraries of reusable components for various domains. The semantics of these languages is fixed. While libraries can be created, the language’s syntax and semantics cannot be adapted to suit the needs of a particular domain. This tutorial provides an introduction to modelling language engineering, which allows one to explicitly model all aspects –in particular, syntax and semantics– of a (domain-specific) modelling and simulation language and to subsequently synthesize appropriate tooling. We demonstrate the discussed techniques by means of a simple railway network language using AToMPM, a (meta)modelling tool.