Using Domain Specific Languages to Capture Design Knowledge for Model-based Systems Engineering

syntax – describes the ―essence‖ of the model; the abstract syntax representation is independent of any particular concrete representation Concrete syntax – describes how a model can be represented concretely. For example, with programming languages the concrete syntax includes punctuation, etc. that is not included in the abstract syntax. A concrete syntax can be either textual or visual. Domain-Specific language – a language specifically designed for describing a particular problem domain. Defined by an abstract syntax as well as at least one concrete syntax. In general, a domain-specific language is mapped to a specific domain to give it semantic meaning. Graph – A collection of nodes and edges. For the purpose of this thesis, the nodes and edges are generally labeled. Also, the edges are directed. Metalanguage – a language for describing a metamodel, just as a metamodel describes a model.