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by dekhn 399 days ago
This is an anti-pattern. Do not make DSLs for subdomains of science. All scientific data can be stored and queried using general-purpose data analysis tools.
3 comments

Why not if it is to facilitate new discoveries and to extend the reach of computational tools to large swaths of clever and productive people?
because sql and other well-established systems already do this and tools like this can be built on those systems without creating yet another domain-specific tool.
Like this group has a set of modules locked in a specialization using this DSL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nextflow
The point of tools is to let us do things. In the end we don’t get a pat on the back for using one language instead of another. What we need is tools to do our actual work, which is not software engineering. If that tool is a DSL, then so be it.

General-purpose data analysis tools tend not to be well suited to most types of scientific data. And it’s not only mass spectrometry, but also microscopy, diffraction, etc. There are huge improvements to be made in these areas.

Is there no need to engage with the content at all to make this judgment? Just, DSL bad? Always and everywhere?