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What is the main difference between the main idea of DSL and Frameworks? These two issues are very confusing to me and i couldn't find a proper answer through internet!

Amir Jalilifard
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  • I haven't read this in detail myself, but it looks like this is one of the more authoritative discussions on this topic: http://folk.uio.no/martifag/masterthesis/thesis.pdf . I'd love to have a concise summary myself. – Sridhar Sarnobat Jul 21 '14 at 19:09

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Good question. This is the simplest explanation I see:

A DSL can have its own concrete syntax. A framework cannot have its own syntax since it is used in the same language in which it was created. Domain Specific Languages versus Frameworks

For example: HTML is a DSL, whereas directives in the AngularJS framework are written in HTML syntax so do not constitute a separate language.

Sridhar Sarnobat
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  • Yes, thanks. Finally i found my answer in that paper 2-3 days ago. However for asking this question, i got a lot of negative points while it was a true and important question! – Amir Jalilifard Jul 22 '14 at 02:09
  • I don't know what such people's problem is. I even asked Martin Fowler about this on Twitter. Apparently chapter 2 of his book comments on this. – Sridhar Sarnobat Jul 22 '14 at 05:10
  • I asked someone else who I consider very smart who said "a DSL is one particular implementation of a framework." While that might be true, I don't think that's the most helpful way of looking at it. – Sridhar Sarnobat Jul 22 '14 at 05:12
  • @SridharSarnobat The link seems to be broken. – Abhyudai Nov 04 '19 at 18:06
  • I don't know where the official document resides, but I think this is a mirror: https://www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/handle/10852/10059/Johansen.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y – Sridhar Sarnobat Nov 04 '19 at 18:20