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Generating Smart Wrapper Libraries for Arbitrary APIs

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Software Language Engineering (SLE 2009)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNPSE,volume 5969))

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Abstract

“Library design is language design” [1]. The development of a smart program library is very similar to the creation of a domain specific language (DSL). Both are currently created in an ad-hoc manner, taking account of best practices and software patterns. Creating new languages and the tools needed to integrate them can be very cumbersome. We propose a reproducible, model-driven methodology to add automation to the DSL-creation process. Our novel approach presents an easy way to design and generate smart, API-wrapping libraries, similar to internal DSLs. These libraries increase the usability of an existing API and can be easily integrated into existing software development tool chains. To generate these DSLs, we propose an enhanced code generation that applies usability-enhancing software patterns. Our current generator leverages the Expression Builder pattern, which is described in detail. We validate our methodology and our enhanced code generation by applying it to Java APIs resulting in smart Java libraries that we call “dotLings”.

Acknowledgement. This work is partially sponsored by the European Commission, in the course of the ServFace project as part of the Seventh Framework Programme.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. SAP Research Center Dresden, Chemnitzer Str. 48, 01187, Dresden, Germany

    Uwe Jugel

Authors
  1. Uwe Jugel
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Mathematics and Computer Science, Software Engineering and Technology, Univeristy of Eindhoven, Den Dolech 2, 5612 AZ, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

    Mark van den Brand

  2. School of Computing and Information Systems, Athabasca University, 1 University Drive, T9S 3A3, Athabasca, AB, Canada

    Dragan Gašević

  3. Department of Computer Science, University of Alabama, P.O. Box 870290, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA

    Jeff Gray

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Jugel, U. (2010). Generating Smart Wrapper Libraries for Arbitrary APIs. In: van den Brand, M., Gašević, D., Gray, J. (eds) Software Language Engineering. SLE 2009. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 5969. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-12107-4_24

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-12107-4_24

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-12106-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-12107-4

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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