Domain-Specific Languages (English, Martin Fowler)

Excellent book on an interesting area of software design

This is an excellent book on an area of software design that is often overlooked. It's written in Fowler's usual clear, concise, and accessible style and follows the same format as the other books in the range (Patterns of Enterprise Architecture and Enterprise Integration Patterns): essays on DSLs, with examples and best practices followed by a wide-ranging collecion of patterns on the subject. The book covers everything from how to design fluent interfaces through to creating and passing external DSLs. I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in software design, even if you're not familiar with concept of DSLs. They're an incredibly powerful weapon to have in your arsenal, and Fowler has done a great job of covering the subject.

Linking implicit ideas that are in the back of our mind.

I no longer write programs, I help people design systems, through sensible design and architecture, but I have never forgotten my assembler roots. The author has produced an important book, as significant as when he created the refactoring book and analysis patterns, and for the same reason.Fowler took concepts that good professionals understand almost implicitly by working through these difficult ideas and places them in context that can be used as a communication tool. He has put a name and a face to a set of memes.Fowlers critical examination of the importance of the semantic model and the way it needs to be constructed apart from syntax, the separation of the state machine model, and the illustrative programming ideas as exemplified by spreadsheets, provide PERSPECTIVE that is so sorely needed. He links these concepts together in a way that is vital for architects and programmers.