Exploring Scala 3 Macros: A Toy Quoted Domain Specific Language
I’ve been wanting to learn Scala 3 macros for a while. They seem well supported and documented. …
Continue ReadingEdmundo Lopez Bobeda, Ph.D.
Hello, I’m Edmundo López. I help companies to improve the productivity of their domain experts by creating custom tools that let them go from the problem to a solution faster and more reliably.
I enjoy spending time with my family, serving in my Church, playing classical guitar, and of course, creating tools and domain specific languages.
Posted by this author
Encoding Base58: Understanding and implementing in Scala
I recently needed to convert to and from Base58. An existing crypto library was not an option, …
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My thoughts after 6 months working with DAML: A Smart Contract Language
A smart contract is a fancy term for a “program that runs on the blockchain”. They …
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Will AI Replace Developers?
Since the release of Github Copilot and Chat-GPT, I see many posts and tweets about how AI will or …
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Xtext vs ANTLR vs Parser Combinators
So you have decided that you need a parser, a real one. Now you need to decide what to use to …
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Changing gears: Enter Scala
I started writing this blog with a strong focus on language engineering and low code. I’m …
Continue ReadingXtext Tip: Embrace Model-Driven Development
Xtext has a strong foundation in Model-Driven Development. Most people who start working with it do …
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From Java to Javascript
In this article I want to share my experiences trying to get started with language engineering on …
Continue ReadingXtext Tip: Adding importURI support
In a previous post I showed how to use the import namespace feature of Xtext. This feature helps to …
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LSP and Xtext Tutorial: Creating the VS Code Client
This post is a continuation of my LSP and Xtext Tutorial. In my latest post I created a language in …
Continue ReadingLSP and Xtext Tutorial: Creating the language
This post is a continuation of my LSP and Xtext Tutorial. In this post I present how to create the …
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LSP and Xtext Tutorial: Introduction
The Language Server Protocol (LSP), created by Microsoft, is one of the latest and greatest tools in …
Continue ReadingXtext Tip: Add custom code to your generated model
If you are into EMF modeling, you know that you can define custom operations and fields in EMF …
Continue ReadingXtext Tip: Some reasons to use a separated EMF model
In a previous tip I showed how to migrate from a generated EMF model to a manually maintained one. …
Continue ReadingXtext Tip: Migrating to manual EMF model
Xtext is very good at inferring a metamodel from a grammar but it has its limitations. After …
Continue ReadingXtext Tip: Adding importedNamespace support
If you look at Xtext’s documentation here, there is a mention of the possibility of adding …
Continue ReadingXtext Tip: Context dependent FQNs in Xtext
One of my favorite features of Xtext is the ability to have context dependant FQNs. One application …
Continue ReadingXtext Tip: How to make a DSL generate code from the code generated from another DSL
Sometimes it happens that you have an Xtext DSL that needs generate code to be consumed by another …
Continue ReadingXtext Tip: Use validation to enforce constraints
Sometimes, you need some constraints for your DSL and you can use the grammar language for that. …
Continue ReadingXtext Tip: Add custom values to your DSL
Sometimes we have a value that has different representations. For example, an integer can be …
Continue ReadingXtext Tip: How to change the default delimiter of your FQNs
In a previous tip I showed how to add FQN support to your Xtext DSL. In this tip, we are going to …
Continue ReadingXtext Tip: How to use fully qualified names in your language
Xtext allows to easily add support for fully qualified names in your language. The full code for …
Continue ReadingXtext Tip: Use Java instead of Xtend
Xtend is a wonderful language. It is specially practical when traversing ASTs and it is the best …
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Why do companies build custom low-code tools?
In this post I explore some some common reasons that justify the effort of creating a custom …
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Should a company use a low code solution or an MDE tool?
When researching low-code and MDE software, I realized that the former is marketing itself as a …
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When is cookie cutter good?
One of the complaints I read the most about low-code tools or code generators in general is that …
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What is MDE?
In a previous post I presented what low-code is, and also pointed to a paper explaning the …
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Low-code development vs. MDE
Today I want to share with you this excellent article about MDE (Model-Driven Engineering) and …
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The main problem you will face when choosing a low-code platform
Today I found thread on reddit about a programmer being put on a no-code project and having a very …
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How to specify features when dealing with textual DSLs
Today I will be discussing how to do specify features when dealing with textual DSLs. There is …
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What is low-code?
I’ve been working with DSLs since 2009, but I’ve recently become aware of the term low …
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Risks when your low code app becomes too complex
Low code sounds like a great idea but there are some caveats. One of those problems are that …
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What is being done with low-code in the industry?
You might have heard of the term low-code, specially if you read this blog. But what can be done …
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Who is your DSL for?
When you are thinking of creating a DSL (or custom low-code/no-code app, if we use the trendy terms …
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A tale of two tools
Recently I had two epiphanies in the tooling I use. The first one happened as I was tired of my …
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Ledger: A DSL for accounting
Ledger is a Unix command line tool to do double-entry accounting using only text files. I personally …
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What happens to open sources project who lose their main sponsor
I recently read the Xtext framework is seriously needing contributions or its future is at risk. The …
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How DSLs can remove the bottleneck from the development team
In his book, The Goal, Eliyahu M. Goldratt presents a way to optimize a plant using his Theory of …
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Use-cases for rule-based automation
In my last post post I introduced different alternatives to simplify the creation of RPA bots. In …
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Three ways of implementing RPA - Robotic Processing Automation
Robotic Processing Automation (RPA) is a technique used by companies to automate tasks that normally …
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MDE Tools: EMF
In my last post I informally introduced the notion of metamodel and mentioned that one of the tools …
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Basic concepts: Metamodeling
This is an informal introduction to metamodeling. The target audience for this post are developers …
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Interoperability of web-based modeling tools
While doing some research on web-based tool, I recently found this excellent article by the team at …
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The toy example as a specification device
Agile methodologies are pervasive in today’s development culture. The ideas are used not only …
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From Eclipse to VS Code: First impressions
I have been developing using the Eclipse IDE basically since college. In those days, being able to …
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What do we mean by software for engineers?
In this post I’m presenting a very broad overview of what I consider to be tooling for …
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The rise of the super editor
When I first learned to program in the late 90s, it was with JavaScript. I was 16 years old, and I …
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My first post
Hello, I’m Edmundo López. I help companies to improve the productivity of their domain experts …
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