DSLs not so pointless?

... or: busting myths and fallacies, this time - the DSL-s!

Until recently I'd only sneer at the idea of DSL's: what the @!%*, either we have a soild API for developers, or a specialized higher level language for the specific task. And the higher level language best shouldn't be  done at all, because the non-technical user just wants a smooth GUI to click his requests together! So spare your DSL hype on me, go and find another gullible middle management person.

But then I read the following passage and the fallacy behind this reasoning became apparent to me:

In other environments I could write tests together with the product owner. Together, we could create and discuss tests that expressed what we wanted our code to do without getting buried in the details. The tests I wrote in C++ were quite unreadable for a non-C++ developer.

What was my error? DSL isn't meant as a programming language, neither for the developer, nor for the notechnical user - it is meant to document things!

Look at the following example of a testing DSL in C++:

  #include <igloo.h>  // testing framework*
  #include <cell.h>   // tested class
 
  using namespace igloo;

  Describe(A_Cell)
  {
      It(should_have_coordinates)
      {
          Cell cell(3,4);
          Assert::That(cell.getX(), Equals(3));
          Assert::That(cell.getY(), Equals(4));
      }

      It(can_detect_if_its_a_neighbour)
      {
          Cell cell(1,5);
          Cell neighb(2,4);

          Assert::That(cell.isNeighbourTo(neighb), IsTrue());
      }
  };

You must say it's a piece of C++ code** you could show to anyone and discuss it as a kind of formal spec. You and your partner don't have to learn Z or some other specialized notation. What both of you know already is just enough to bridge the gap. And it's cool code as well!

--
* see: http://igloo-testing.org/
** it's not a joke, all this is possible in C++