Domain Specific Languages

Chapter 6. Choosing between Internal and External DSLs

Now that we’ve gone through the details of implementing internal and external DSLs, we’re now at a point where we can better understand their strengths and weaknesses. This gives us enough information to decide which of the two techniques to use, and indeed to decide if a DSL is appropriate at all.

One of the great difficulties is the lack of information to base your choice on. Only a few people do much with DSLs, and those that do tend to only use one or two techniques, and so can’t really compare the different styles. This issue is further complicated by the fact that many of the techniques in this book aren’t widely known. My hope is that this book will help people build DSLs more easily, ...