Everything about Domain-specific language

🧭 Start here: a 6-step reading path

1. Read the overview: Domain-specific languageA 5-minute orientation
2. Skim a recent paper: Domain-specific language models pre-trained on construction management systems corporaInfluential work since 2022
3. Pick up a classic book: Domain EngineeringThe most-reprinted book on the subject
4. Read the landmark paper: Domain-Specific Language Model Pretraining for Biomedical Natural Language ProcessingCited 1,538 times
5. Go sideways: Language workbenchA closely related topic
6. Go sideways: JetBrains MPSA closely related topic

🏆 Landmark papers (most cited)

• Domain-Specific Language Model Pretraining for Biomedical Natural Language Processing

  Yu Gu, Robert Tinn, Hao Cheng · 2021 · ACM Transactions on Computing for Healthcare · 1,538 citations

• Domain-Specific Language Design Requires Feature Descriptions

  Arie Van Deursen, Paul Klint · 2002 · Journal of Computing and Information Technology · 162 citations

• Pretrained domain-specific language model for natural language processing tasks in the AEC domain

  Zhe Zheng, Xin-Zheng Lu, Ke-Yin Chen · 2022 · Computers in Industry · 121 citations

• Language-related domain-specific and domain-general systems in the human brain

  Karen L Campbell, Lorraine K Tyler · 2018 · Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences · 92 citations

• A domain-specific visual language for domain model evolution

  Jonathan Sprinkle, Gabor Karsai · 2004 · Journal of Visual Languages & Computing · 88 citations

• Simplicity and Specificity in Language: Domain-General Biases Have Domain-Specific Effects

  Jennifer Culbertson, Simon Kirby · 2016 · Frontiers in Psychology · 57 citations

• Habitation: A Domain-Specific Language for Home Automation

  Manuel Jiménez, Francisca Rosique, Pedro Sánchez · 2009 · IEEE Software · 35 citations

• Is susceptibility to cross-language interference domain specific?

  Anat Prior, Tamar Degani, Sehrab Awawdy · 2017 · Cognition · 32 citations

🆕 Influential since 2022

• Domain-specific language models pre-trained on construction management systems corpora

  Yunshun Zhong, Sebastian D. Goodfellow · 2024 · Automation in Construction · 71 citations

• Automating Research Synthesis with Domain-Specific Large Language Model Fine-Tuning

  Teo Susnjak, Peter Hwang, Napoleon Reyes · 2025 · ACM Transactions on Knowledge Discovery from Data · 65 citations

• Domain‐general and domain‐specific functional networks of Broca's area underlying language processing

  Talat Bulut · 2023 · Brain and Behavior · 26 citations

• Large Language Models and Rule-Based Approaches in Domain-Specific Communication

  Dominik Halvoník, Jozef Kapusta · 2024 · IEEE Access · 25 citations

• A domain-specific language for describing machine learning datasets

  Joan Giner-Miguelez, Abel Gómez, Jordi Cabot · 2023 · Journal of Computer Languages · 23 citations

📚 Books worth reading

• Domain EngineeringIris Reinhartz-Berger, Arnon Sturm · 2013
• Implementing Domaindriven DesignVaughn Vernon · 2012
• 📕Semantics engineering with PLT RedexMatthias Felleisen · 2009
• DSLs in actionDebasish Ghosh · 2010
• 📕Clojure for Domain-Specific LanguagesRyan D. Kelker · 2013
• Gradle in ActionBenjamin Muschko · 2014
• Domain-Specific LanguagesMartin Fowler · 2010
• Language Implementation PatternsTerence Parr · 2009

Ranked by number of editions on Open Library, a rough measure of how lasting a book is.

🔗 Related topics

• Language workbench A language workbench is a tool or set of tools that enables software development in the language-oriented programming software development paradigm. A…
• JetBrains MPS JetBrains MPS (Meta Programming System) is a language workbench developed by JetBrains. MPS is a tool to design domain-specific languages (DSL). It uses…
• Preprocessor In computer science, a preprocessor (or precompiler) is a program that processes its input data to produce output that is used as input in another program…
• Domain-specific multimodeling Domain-specific multimodeling is a software development paradigm where each view is made explicit as a separate domain-specific language (DSL). Successful…
• ANTLR In computer-based language recognition, ANTLR (pronounced antler), or ANother Tool for Language Recognition, is a parser generator that uses a LL(*) algorithm…
• Language-oriented programming Language-oriented programming (LOP) is a software-development paradigm where "language" is a software building block with the same status as objects, modules…
• General-purpose programming language In computer software, a general-purpose programming language (GPL) is a programming language for building software in a wide variety of application domains…
• Scripting language In computing, a script is a relatively short and simple set of instructions that typically automate an otherwise manual process. The act of writing a script…