Comparison between different abstraction level programming: Experiment definition and initial results
Janne Merilinna, Juha Pärssinen · 2007
Abstract. Domain-specific languages and especially domain-specific modeling languages (DSML) are mentioned to achieve 5-10 times performance gains compared to traditional software development practices due to raising the level of abstraction. The data for the cases where these gains have been witnessed is usually not available. Therefore, in this paper, we introduce a simple but comprehensive and affordable experiment framework which can be utilized for measuring the benefits and drawbacks of DSMLs in an open fashion, i.e. publishing the data and the results and enabling a possibility to repeat the experiment by others. In this paper, we also present our own experiences and initial results about the benefits and drawbacks. We found the benefits of DSML to be clear if the applications have to be implemented daily and especially if the platform continues to evolve and the existing applications have to be updated to correspond to the changes. The benefits of utilizing DSML in a domain where the platform continues to evolve came as a surprise and needs further study. 1