Video part of the demonstration: http://www.metacase.com/webcasts/Multi-user.html. Almost all software development activities require collaboration and language engineering is no exception. First, there is a need for collaboration among language engineers as it is not realistic to expect one man to master all. Second, there is a natural need for collaboration among language users. Finally, there is a need for collaboration among language engineers and language users: Not only when languages are originally designed but more importantly when they are maintained along with the work already created with them. Unfortunately too often tools ignore collaboration by unnecessarily splitting the work into separate formats, tools and roles. We describe and demonstrate collaborative tool capabilities implemented into MetaEdit+ tool and describe experiences on their use in practice.

1. 1
Juha-Pekka Tolvanen
jpt@metacase.com
SLE 2016
MetaEdit+ for
Collaborative
Language Engineering
and Language Use

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Content
 Collaboration schemes
– 3 ways of collaboration in SLE
 Demonstration
– Typical collaborations in SLE
 Discussion
– + possibility to go into details afterwards, or download
MetaEdit+ from www.metacase.com/download

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Experts define languages
& generators
Team models with domain
concepts & generate code
 MetaEdit+ is available as a single-user and as a
collaborative multi-user version

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Collaborative Language Engineering
and Language Use
Language
Engineering
Language
Use
Jim Mark Jill Bob Joe John Nina

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In SLE collaboration occurs in
different ways
1. Among language engineers
– to specify and manage larger DSL or several integrated DSLs
– each focus on their particular area (abstract syntax, concrete
syntax, constraints, generators and transformations)
2. Among language users
– each focusing on different parts (with different DSLs?) of the
system
3. Among language engineers and language users
– to specify and improve the languages along with the work
already done

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Demo scenarios
1. Several language engineers create in collaboration a language
– Edit the same abstract syntax definition
– Some edit the abstract syntax, second language engineering the constraints, third
concrete syntax and fourth the generators
– Trace among shared language elements
– Trace among several integrated languages
2. Collaborative language use
– Several engineers use the language and edit the same model, and same diagram at the
same time
– Trace among model elements
– Trace and integration among models in different languages
– Change history and versioning
3. Language users join and give feedback on the language
– Language users test the language and give feedback
– Language engineer updates the metamodel and language users tries it out
– Existing work (models) are updated automatically when the language changes

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MetaEdit+ for SLE collaboration: Demo

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Collaborative Language Engineering
 Language engineers
(A, B, C, D) can
modify different parts
of the language at the
same time
 Integrated language
specification: changing
‘Name’ of
‘ComponentInstance’
reflects automatically
to constraints (in B),
notation (in C) and can
be traced to
generators (in D)

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Collaborative Language Engineering
and Language Use
 Language engineering and use in the same environment
 We can inspect how language is used and language users can
provide feedback
 Automated DSL
version delivery
 Scales well to
industry use with
model evolution

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Collaborative Language(s) Use
 Language
users can
specify the
same system
(with different
DSLs) at the
same time
 Model
elements can
be traced,
checked,
reused as a
whole

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Benefits of collaborative features for
SLE
 Better quality languages
– Integrated DSL definitions among language engineers
 Better acceptance as language users directly involved
– Early testing of metamodels
– Immediate feedback
– Avoid creating wrong language
 Handle larger and more complex/integrated DSLs
– No single man can handle all

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Remarks
 The collaborative features of MetaEdit+ are been
applied in industry
 Repository approach scales well to large systems, large
teams and using several integrated languages
 Tutorials, Case studies, User Guides and downloadable
evaluation version is available at: www.metacase.com

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Thank you!
Questions?
www.metacase.com