A Domain-Specific Language for Video Device Drivers: From Design to Implementation

Domain-specific languages (DSL) have many potential advantages in terms of software engineering ranging from increased productivity to the application of formal methods. Although they have been used in practice for decades, there has been little study of methodology or implementation tools for the DSL approach. In this paper we present our DSL approach and its application to a realistic application: video display device drivers. The presentation focuses on the validation of our proposed framework for domain-specific languages, which provides automatic generation of efficient implementations of DSL programs. Additionally, we describe an example of a complete DSL for video display adaptors and the benefits of the DSL approach in this application. This demonstrates some of the generally claimed benefits of using DSLs: increased productivity, higher-level abstraction, and easier verification. The DSL has been fully implemented with our approach and is available.