Damijan Rebernak

Domain-specific aspect languages for modularising crosscutting concerns in grammars

The emergence of crosscutting concerns can be observed in various representations of software artifacts (e.g., source code, models, requirements, and language grammars). Although much of the focus of AOP has been on aspect languages that augment the descriptive power of general purpose programming languages, there is also a need for domain-specific aspect languages that address particular crosscutting concerns found in software representations other than traditional source code. This paper discusses the issues involved in the design and implementation of domain-specific aspect languages that are focused within the domain of language specification. Specifically, the paper outlines the challenges and issues that we faced while designing two separate aspect languages that assist in modularizing crosscutting concerns in grammars.

AspectLISA: an aspect-oriented compiler construction system based on attribute grammars

The use of object-oriented techniques and concepts, like encapsulation and inheritance, greatly improves language specifications towards better modularity, reusability and extensibility. Additional improvements can be achieved with aspect-oriented techniques since semantic aspects also crosscut many language constructs. Indeed, aspect-oriented constructs have been already added to some language specifications. The LISA compiler construction system follows an object-oriented approach and has already implemented mechanisms for inheritance, modularity and extensibility. Adding aspects to LISA will lead to more reusable language specifications. In the paper, aspect-oriented attribute grammars are introduced, and the underlying ideas are incorporated into AspectLISA, an aspect-oriented compiler generator based on attribute grammars.

Finding boundary subjects for medical decision support with support vector machines

Support vector machines are learning machines designed to automatically deal with the accuracy/generalisation trade-off, by minimizing an upper bound on the generalisation error provided by VC theory. That makes them very attractive for applications in different domains, especially in the field of medical diagnoses. In the practice however there are still few tuneable parameters, which need to be set to accomplish best accuracy/generalisation trade-off. There are also some important design choices to select appropriate kernel, which transforms non-liner separable problems into high dimensional possibly linear separable problems. In this paper the influence of kernels and kernel parameters on classification accuracy is presented We also focus on the representation of knowledge extracted from support vector machine to make it usable for medical decision support.

Web information system based on open source technologies

Systems based on open-source technologies are proving to be an interesting and very common phenomenon in the area of modern software design. In this context we introduce our Web information system from an unorthodox viewpoint - open-source. We try to give a lucid overview how open-source paradigm can be effectively incorporated and utilised in software design. In addition, we also speak of the benefits of this principle, especially in the context of distributed knowledge sharing and rapid software development. As an outstanding and extremely successful products of open-source paradigm we expose the Linux and FreeBSD operating systems as well as some other renowned projects which have now gained much popularity, particularly because of the ability to contribute to them.

A tool for compiler construction based on aspect-oriented specifications

Aspect-oriented programming (AOP) provides a way to modularize crosscutting concerns. Crosscuting concerns can be found in various representations of software artifacts and in different steps of software life cycle (e.g., source code, models, requirements, language grammars). This paper provides an introduction to the AspectLISA tool and its aspect-oriented specification language for programming language definition and compiler construction. AspectLISA is a mature, well-tested system for automatically generating compilers, interpreters, and other language related tools from formal incremental and reusable aspect-oriented attribute grammar-based specifications. In the paper we discuss about the issues involved in the design and implementation of domain-specific aspect language for compiler construction, as well as some benefits of aspect-oriented specifications.

Specifying languages using aspect-oriented approach: AspectLISA

Object-oriented techniques and concepts have been successfully used in language specification and formalization. They greatly improve modularity, reausability and extensibility. In spite of using OO paradigms in language specification, some semantic aspects still crosscut many language constructs. Improvements can be achieved with aspect-oriented techniques. The paper describes AspectLISA tool which uses aspect-oriented approach for language specification (aspect-oriented attribute grammars). An example is worked out in order to illustrate the approach. We show how to identify an aspect, specify it in the concrete AspectLisa syntax, and how to gather parts in order to develop a complete language processor

Web service for designing and implementing formal languages

An intelligent Web service and its interface for designing and implementing formal languages are described in the paper. The paper describes also background tools LISA and GIE used in the Web service and some basics of their usage. Three language design approaches are presented. Firstly, from scratch using LISA specifications, secondly using stored specifications from other developers, and thirdly with a set of positive and negative example strings/programs. Advanced user interface with shared and documented repository of solutions make Web service suitable for beginners as well as compiler experts. Web service has been designed in a way which makes it suitable for integration in standalone applications

Visual language framework for LISA

Compiler construction is a difficult task. Therefore more suitable solutions than the existent ones are needed. In this paper a framework (domain-specific visual language) for visual language design is presented. The framework automatically generates the compiler/interpreter by using visual notation. The main advantage of this approach is the use of a more appropriate visual notation and abstractions in comparison to classical textual notation of formal language specifications for compiler generators. Special attention is paid to better flexibility and reusability of the predefined semantic constructs