Efficient Development of Consistent Projectional Editors Using Grammar Cells

Conference paper (2016)

Authors

Markus Völter Independent researcher, Itemis AG
T. Szabo Programming Languages - EEMCS , Itemis AG
Sascha Lisson Itemis AG
Bernd Kolb Itemis AG
S.T. Erdweg Programming Languages - EEMCS
Thorsten Berger Chalmers University of Technology, University of Gothenburg
Research Group
Programming Languages (EEMCS) (TU Delft)
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Published Date

2016

Language

English

Reuse Rights

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Faculty

Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science

Department

Software Technology

Research Group

Programming Languages

Abstract

The definition of a projectional editor does not just specify the notation of a language, but also how users interact with the notation. Because of that it is easy to end up with different interaction styles within one and between multiple languages. The resulting inconsistencies have proven to be a major usability problem. To address this problem, we introduce grammar cells, an approach for declaratively specifying textual notations and their interactions for projectional editors. In the paper we motivate the problem, give a formal definition of grammar cells, and define their mapping to low-level editor behaviors. Our evaluation based on project experience shows that grammar cells improve editing experience by providing a consistent and intuitive ``text editor-like'' user experience for textual notations. At the same time they do not limit language composability and the use of non-textual notations, the primary benefits of projectional editors. We have implemented grammar cells for Jetbrains MPS, but they can also be used with other projectional editors.