Embedding domain specific languages in the attribute grammar formalism

This paper presents techniques for the design and implementation of domain specific languages. Our techniques are based on higher-order attribute grammars. Formal languages are specified in the classical attribute formalism and domain specific languages are embedded in the specification via higher-order attributes. We present a domain specific language for pretty-printing and we show how such language can be easily embedded in the specification of a powerful spreadsheet-like tool. From such specification an incremental implementation is automatically derived and the first results are presented.