Formalizing a domain specific language using SOS : an industrial case study

This paper describes the process of formalizing an existing, industrial domain specific language (DSL) that is based on the task-resource paradigm. Initially, the semantics of this DSL is defined informally and implicitly through an interpreter. The formalization starts by projecting the existing concrete syntax onto a formal abstract syntax that defines the language operators and process terms. Next, we define the dynamic operational semantics at the level of individual syntactical notions, using structural operational semantics (SOS) as a formal meta-language. Here, the impact of the formalization process on the DSL is considered in terms of disambiguation of underlying (semantic) language design decisions