DropsBox: the Dresden Open Software Toolbox

2012 research paper

In Software & Systems Modeling, Springer
with: Uwe Aßmann, Andreas Bartho, Christoff Bürger, Sebastian Cech, Birgit Demuth, Florian Heidenreich, Sven Karol, Jan Polowinski, Jan Reimann, Julia Schroeter, Mirko Seifert, Michael Thiele, Christian Wende, and Claas Wilke

The Dresden Open Software Toolbox (DropsBox) is a software modelling toolbox consisting of a set of open source tools developed by the Software Technology Group at TU Dresden. The DropsBox is built on top of the Eclipse Platform and the Eclipse Modeling Framework. The DropsBox contributes to the development and application of domain-specific languages (DSLs) in model-driven software development. It can be customised by tool and language developers to support various activities of a DSL’s life cycle ranging from language design to language application and evolution. In this paper, we provide an overview of the DSL life cycle, the DropsBox tools, and their interaction on a common example. Furthermore, we discuss our experiences in developing and integrating tools for DropsBox in an academic environment.