A language-driven approach for the design of interactive applications

Abstract

In this paper we propose a language-driven approach for the high-level design of interactive applications architected according to the model-view-controller pattern. The approach is especially well-suited for applications that incorporate contents with sophisticated structures, and whose interactive behavior is driven by these structures. In our approach we characterize the structure of the contents stored in the applications' models with suitable domain-specific languages. Then we characterize the interactive behavior of these applications by assigning suitable operational semantics to these languages. The resulting designs are amenable to support rapid prototyping, exploration and early discovery of application features, systematic implementation using standard web-based technologies, and rational collaboration processes between domain experts and developers during production and maintenance. We exemplify the approach in the e-learning domain with a system for the production of Socratic tutors.

INDIeAuthor: A Metamodel-Based Textual Language for Authoring Educational Courses

“…MDE paradigms have been extensively applied in many domains, but the number of relevant works is very limited in the elearning field. The idea of applying language-driven development to build elearning applications was described in [7] and [8]. These works outline how the use of DSLs differs from the conventional approach based on manual coding.…”

“…Translation and interpretation are commonly used to build DSL execution engines in MDE paradigms [6]. The approach described in [7] is also presented in [8], where it is applied to create Socratic tutors. The work is again focused on the operational semantics of a DSL example.…”

“…A very limited number of works has explored how to apply MDE techniques in elearning. To the best of our knowledge, the most relevant proposals are [7] and [8], both of which focus on the definition of an operational semantic for a DSL whose objective is to automate a particular aspect of an elearning application. Instead, here we provide a detailed description of all the aspects involved in the creation of a solution based on the current practice in MDE.…”

Language engineering techniques for the development of e-learning applications

“…In this section we address these two design dimensions by emphasizing in the language engineering principles used. In Sierra et al (2008aSierra et al ( , 2008b there are additional examples of applying this process into the context of a Socratic Tutoring System (Bork, 1985;Ibrahim, 1989).…”

“…For more details regarding implementation strategies in the context of the language-driven approach see the works of Sierra et al (2008aSierra et al ( , 2008b.…”