Software engineering faces new challenges with the advent of modern software-intensive systems such as complex critical embedded systems, cyber-physical systems and the Internet of things. Application domains range from robotics, transportation systems, defense to home automation, smart cities, and energy management, among others. Software is more and more pervasive, integrated into large and distributed systems, and dynamically adaptable in response to a complex and open environment. As a major consequence, the engineering of such systems involves multiple stakeholders, each with some form of domain-specific knowledge, and with an increasingly use of software as an integration layer.

Hence more and more organizations are adopting Domain Specific Languages (DSLs) to allow domain experts to express solutions directly in terms of relevant domain concepts. This new trend raises new challenges about designing DSLs, evolving a set of DSLs and coordinating the use of multiple DSLs for both DSL designers and DSL users.

ALE contributes to the field of Software Language Engineering, aiming to provide more agility to both language designers and language users. The objective is twofold. First, we aim to help language designers to leverage previous DSL implementation efforts by reusing and combining existing language modules. Second, we aim to provide more flexibility to language users by ensuring interoperability between different DSLs and offering live feedback about how the model or program behaves while it is being edited (aka. live programming/modeling).