TITEL

Using a DSL to boost construction efficiency

SPREKER

Marc Hamilton, softwarearchitect, ASML (via Task24)

ABSTRACT

Software plays a large role within ASML wafer scanners. The software product lines are constructed by an increasing group of software engineers. Currently about seven hundred software developers are part of D&E. Software development is supported by more facilitating software libraries and procedures, making development more complex. More detailed knowledge is required to implement a function within this larger context.

To control the growing complexity and increase efficiency we should work close to the requirements and design choices that matter. The rest is non-essential, adding to ‘accidental complexity’. For specific domains (e.g. a software layer within one product family), focussing on the essentials can be done very effectively. Experts can create a domain-specific language (DSL) to allow precise specification and communication at a high level of abstraction. A software implementation can be derived from this, with expert knowledge about the transformation, captured in tooling.

The Lace tooling shows this is very well possible within one architectural software layer. A graphical DSL has been constructed in which the product developer can model his behavioral requirements. From that the documentation and up to 100 percent of the C-based implementation can be generated. The effort from requirement to maintenance is reduced by a factor of five.

BIO

Marc Hamilton werd geboren in 1964. Na twee jaar werktuigbouw te hebben gestudeerd, is hij overgestapt naar informatica. Daarin is hij afgestudeerd aan de Technische Universiteit in Eindhoven. Na zijn diensttijd is hij vijf jaar lang werkzaam geweest in de bedrijfsautomatisering. Vervolgens is hij in 1997 in dienst getreden bij Bergson, inmiddels Task24, dat zich specialiseert in technische-softwareontwikkeling. Sinds 1998 is hij gedetacheerd bij ASML, waar hij zich de laatste jaren als softwarearchitect vooral bezighoudt met de problematiek van het toepassen van modellering en in het bijzonder MDE.

TAAL

Nederlands/Engels