DSLs in Action

Appendix B. Metaprogramming and DSL design

Metaprogramming is a technique that’s commonly associated with designing DSLs. Using metaprogramming, you can write code that generates code. When you design a DSL, you can let the language runtime or the compile-time infrastructure generate code for you. This code might seem extremely verbose or boilerplate to your users. In this appendix, I’ll discuss common techniques of metaprogramming used in designing DSLs and how you can use these techniques to make your DSL expressive and succinct.

B.1. The meta in the DSL

In section 2.1, you learn that the powerful metaprogramming capabilities of Groovy can help you write a more expressive DSL than Java can. Languages like Groovy and Ruby let you inflect ...