The STYLE Workbench: Systematics of Typed Language Environments

STYLE is a method to systematically construct a customized development environment (CDE) for a given high-level data model by exploiting and extending an existing persistent programming environment along three dimensions.On the functional dimension, polymorphic types and higher-order functions are used to extend the system functionality with new generic services and through the integration of external tools. On the operational dimension, orthogonal persistence is provided for application and meta data related to design objects. Finally, on the modal dimension, reflective capabilities of persistent programming environments make it possible to view data as executable code and vice versa. This is used in a CDE to switch dynamically between different modes of a design object.The STYLE approach is illustrated using a concrete CDE implemented for an object-oriented data model exploiting and extending the Tycoon persistent programming environment. This STYLE workbench provides integrated graphical and textual modelling tools, generation support and data model animation.