Towards an engineering discipline for GRAMMARWARE

Grammarware comprises grammars and all grammar-dependent software, i.e., software artifacts that directly involve grammar knowledge. The term grammar is meant here in the widest sense to include XML schemas, syntax definitions, interface descriptions, APIs, and interaction protocols. The most obvious examples of grammar-dependent software are document processors, parsers, import/export functionality, and generative programming tools. Even though grammarware is so omnipresent, it is somewhat neglected — from an engineering point of view. We lay out an agenda that is meant to promote research on improving the quality of grammarware and on increasing the productivity of grammarware development. To this end, we identify the problems with current foundations and practices, the promises of an engineering discipline for grammarware, its ingredients, and research challenges along the way.