[antlr-interest] what's in a name?

Gregg Reynolds dev at mobileink.com
Thu Aug 27 13:03:53 PDT 2009


On Thu, Aug 27, 2009 at 1:44 PM, Terence Parr <parrt at cs.usfca.edu> wrote:

> Hi, so we're going back and forth on titles/subtitles for the new book
> on implementing DSLs and other languages.  Now, we're "Language Design
> Patterns", where Design is an adjective of Patterns; Language is not

an adj of Design.  it's ambiguous though. Using Lang Impl Design
> Patterns was too long and unwieldy.  So, we added a subtitle about
> "Techniques for implementing DSLs".  Our marketing has been all about
> impl DSLs but the book became much more general.
>
> The confusion is that the current title can be seen as about lang
> design.  We could do Lang Impl Patterns, but Kent Beck has a Impl
> Patterns book now that is totally different concept.
>
> Publisher wants DSL in there somewhere.  Any ideas about title/subtitle?
>

Favor "engineering" or "construction" or the like over "design", and go for
something suggestive from linguistics or culture for the title.  E.g.
"Towers of Babel:  Building DSLs for a Chaotic World".  Ok, silly, but you
get the idea.

When I hear the "design", even though (or because) it covers pretty much
everything, I tend not to think of the design that goes into implementation.
 If you're really emphasizing design in implementation, maybe something that
highlights the role of design as a distinct element of engineering, e.g.
"Elements of Design in DSL Engineering" (echoing Strunk and White).

-g
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