On the Appropriateness of Domain-Specific Languages Derived from Different Metamodels

In model-driven development domain-specific languages (DSL) are often considered models while the description of DSLs are expressed using various metamodels. To estimate the influence of a metamodel on the quality of DSLs derived from it, it is appropriate to measure functional suitability. As defined by the standard ISO/IEC 25010 (SQuaRE), functional suitability consists of completeness, correctness, and appropriateness. Among these issues, only appropriateness can be evaluated without specifying the domain. This paper is a study of a relationship between (a) the metamodel´s expressive power regarding the syntax of the DSLs derived from the metamodel and (b) the appropriateness of those DSLs. In this regard two metrics are defined. The first metric evaluates a metamodel and produces the estimation of the derived DSLs´ appropriateness. The second metric incorporates the domain and further assesses the quality of a DSL in terms of appropriateness. Both metrics are based on abstract syntax trees of programs written in the derived DSLs, and demonstrated using examples on two different domains.