You know Markus Völter as the founder and voice of Software Engineering Radio. Well, this week on Herding Code, Markus finds himself on the other side of the microphone – fielding, rather than asking, questions. Listen in as Markus explains model-driven software development and product line engineering. Learn about modeling, domain-specific languages, code generation, Eclipse, development outside of the Microsoft/.NET world and much, much more, this week on Herding Code.

• K Scott leads the discussion asking about developing with Eclipse. Jon asks how Eclipse’s plugin model compares to that of Visual Studio.
• K Scott introduce the topic of model-driven development and DSLs. Markus steps back and takes some time to talk about terminology.
• Markus shares why UML can’t be used to appropriately describe one’s domain and jokes that Microsoft has been ignoring UML for years but that are now gravitating toward it just as everyone else is moving away.
• Markus discusses the difference between modeling and programming.
• Kevin asks Markus his opinion of Oslo and M, the Oslo Modeling Language. Markus says it is difficult to compare Oslo to Textual Modeling Framework (TMF) found in Eclipse, talks about code generation being incorporated (or not) into Oslo and shares his thoughts about competition between groups at Microsoft. K Scott and Markus discuss their concern with Oslo becoming an extension of SQL and the mixed messages Microsoft is sending.
• Markus talks about the blurring lines between External vs Internal DSLs.
• K Scott and Markus discuss productivity gains when incorporating modeling into one’s development.
• Markus shares the things which changed and influenced his career – design patterns and modeling. Markus stresses that building languages and generators is more applicable to software development than learning the API-of-the-day. K Scott and Markus talk about learning, focusing on the important stuff and separating technical and domain concerns.
• Jon asks about Microsoft Axum. Markus explains Axum as “Erlang for .NET” and expands upon the benefits of concurrent and functional programming.
• The show finishes with Markus providing a very nice overview of Product Line Engineering.

Show Links:

• Markus’ Site
• Markus’ Blog
• Software Engineering Radio
• Code Generation Conference
• Steve Cook
• DSL (Domain-Specific Language)
• UML (Unified Modeling Language)
• OMG (Object Modeling Group)
• Windows Workflow Foundation (WF)
• OOPSLA (Object-Oriented Programming, Systems, Languages, and Applications)
• Eclipse
• Textual Modeling Framework (TMF)
• Oslo
• M (Oslo Modeling Language)
• Don Box
• DSL DevCon
• Scala
• Converge
• Laurence Tratt
• MPS (Meta Programming System)
• Jetbrains
• Textual DSLs and Code Generation with Eclipse Tools (Markus’ DSL DevCon Presentation)
• Visual Studio 2010
• WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation)
• MEF (Managed Extensibility Framework)
• DSL Toolkit
• Martin Fowler
• Gang of Four Book
• Microsoft Axum: “Erlang for .NET”
• Microsoft Axum
• Erlang
• Pipes and Filters Design Pattern
• Product Line Engineering
• SPLC (Software Product Line Conference)
• Models Conference

Download / Listen:

Herding Code 56: Markus Völter on Model-Driven Development, DSLs and Product Line Engineering

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Show notes compiled by Ben Griswold. Thanks!