Usability driven DSL development with USE-ME. (January 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Barišić, Ankica; Amaral, Vasco; Goulão, Miguel
• Is Part Of: Computer languages, systems & structures. Volume 51(2017)
• Page Start: 118
• Page End: 157
• Publication Date: 2018-01
• Subjects: Domain-specific languages -- Software language engineering -- Experimental software engineering -- Usability engineering -- Quality of DSLs -- Quality in use; Programming languages (Electronic computers) -- Periodicals; Computer networks -- Periodicals; Computer architecture -- Periodicals; Computer systems -- Periodicals; Langage de programmation; Réseau d'ordinateurs; Architecture d'ordinateur; Périodique électronique (Descripteur de forme); Ressource Internet (Descripteur de forme); 005.13
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cl.2017.06.005
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1477-8424

Abstract

Highlights: A conceptual framework, called USE-ME, which supports usability evaluations during the DSL development is proposed. The paper presents the models of the information that must be traced during the different steps of the DSL engineering process. A prototype of the framework is presented. The framework is illustrated by an industrial case study. Abstract: The adoption of Domain-Specific Languages (DSLs) is regarded as an approach to reduce the accidental complexity of software systems development. The availability of sophisticated language workbenches facilitates the development of DSLs making them increasingly more popular. The adoption of DSLs at large comes at the risk that a poorly designed DSL can be too hard to adopt by its domain users. As such, Usability is one of the essential characteristics to mitigate this risk as it has an important impact on the productivity achieved by DSL users. The current state of practice in Software Language Engineering (SLE) neglects the Usability of DSLs. A pertinent research question in SLE is how to engineer Usability into DSLs systematically. We argue that a timely systematic approach based on User Interface experimental evaluation techniques should be used to assess the impact of DSLs during their development process, while the cost of fixing the usability problems is relatively small, when compared to fixing them at the end of the development process. For that purpose, we introduce a conceptual framework, called USE-ME, which supports the iterative incremental development process of DSLs concerning the issue of their Usability evaluation. We illustrate the feasibility of the approach on a case study of the development of a DSL meant for children to program robots.