Domain-Specific Development with Visual Studio DSL Tools

by Gareth Jones, Steve Cook, Stuart Kent, et al.

Domain Specific Languages (DSL) and Domain-Driven Design (DDD) are two related concepts that have been kicking around the edges of the software engineering world for a few years, but have recently started to move much more towards center stage. A DSL is a language specially geared to working within a particular area of interest: it might be a vertical domain such as telephone design, or a horizontal one like workflow. Some well-known examples of DSLs...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0321398203
• ISBN13: 9780321398208
• Release Date: May 2007
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
• Length: 524 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 7.1" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Buy it, but better to read it twice

This is an excellent book. As the title of the book makes it clear, this is not a book about DSL in general; it is a book about DSL tools in Visual Studio. So it does make sense to criticize the book for requiring VS 2005, as some other reviewers did. I am glad I read the book cover to cover, and I am enjoying it more on second-reading. The topic is non-linear and certain things in a given chapter make complete sense only after you read material in later chapters. This reflects not on the quality of the book, but on the nature of what is covered. This is why I believe that, for most people, maximum value can be obtained from the book if read twice. It is very well worth it.

Not for my taste of technical book

The books covers almost all of the capabilities for the DSL world, however in this approach to cover all themes, they present some important subjects in a very light way. The reader must have a previous and seriuos knowledge of DSL items and a lot of experience in Visual Studio 2005. However some chapters (2,3,4,8 and 9) are very very good :D

THE Book for the Subject

There's no doubt that Microsoft has a steller team working on its DSL tools, and given their position on the DSL team, there's no better team of writers to elaborate both the underlying concepts as well as go in depth on the implementations of those technologies in the Visual Studio DSL Tools. The more developers and architects getting familiar with DSLs and modeling, the better, and this toolset and book are the best resource I know of for learning more about the domain and getting a very useful and concrete example of the concepts as well as a tool you can use to start building your own. Buy it. Learn it. Use it.