Domain-Specific Languages (DSLs) and code generators have significantly improved the productivity and quality of software development in many areas, but seem a particularly good fit for product lines. For example, Nokia reports 1000% and Panasonic reports 500% productivity improvement when moving from traditional manual coding to DSM. Within the European MoSiS project several modelling languages providing a high level of abstraction have been developed. In this session we describe industrial experiences in two different domains: train control and embedded consumer devices.

In the train domain, communication between domain experts and software developers was improved with the Train Control Language (TCL), a graphical description of train station elements like length of tracks, placement of signal lights and point machines. Our experiment showed that we can automatically generate the necessary interlocking code from this model. By applying the common variability language (CVL), only a minimum of changes must be described to generate code from the same model for a family of stations. This not only makes development faster, but helps attain the high level of safety necessary in a train application.

The second study evaluated the impact of DSM when developing sports instruments. Based on the controlled tests the company found the DSM solution to be at least 750% more productive than the traditional development approach. Developers also estimated the quality of the code and the design process to be significantly better with DSM.