[sharkbrainguy]

2004 seems really late for the inception (or possibly formalisation) of Domain Specific Language, I assume that you're talking specifically about embedded (also called internal) DSLs, otherwise SQL at least is from 1986.

As an earlier example of an Embedded DSL, the book PAIP[1] included prolog embedded in common lisp in 1992.

It could be argued that the loop macro in Common Lisp is a DSL for describing iteration. If not loop, then certainly regular expressions are a common EDSL for describing a regular language, and performing operations with those languages against strings?

I found this snippet from Computers in Crisis [2] which seems to describe domain-specific languages in familiar terms from 1975

    Most domain-specific programming languages can be categorized in one
    of two ways; either as a "sugared" general ... of programming, in
    fact the style of problem solving, embedded in and supported by that
    language remains unchanged.

[1] http://www.norvig.com/paip/README.html [2] http://books.google.co.nz/books?id=QndQAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Embedde...

[peterhunt]

Yes, you're right, I did mean embedded DSL.

[gnaritas]

Smalltalk has been doing embedded DSL's since its creation in the 70's; they are not a new phenomenon.