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A DSL is a language that is specific to a domain. DSLs may or may not be Turing-complete, but typically you wouldn't write the whole of a big project in one.

The difference between a DSL and an API? An API uses the host language's syntax, but a DSL introduces its own syntax, which must then be parsed.

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> The difference between a DSL and an API? An API uses the host language's syntax, but a DSL introduces its own syntax, which must then be parsed.

Well, this is a conundrum then. You can't just create new syntax in languages that don't support a way to extend the syntax (see Lisp macros, and I even get to mention TCL here). So, most of what we normally call "DSLs," (i.e. method chaining languages, overloading operators) aren't.

So, I guess we should start calling them Domain Specific APIs--DSAPIs, if you will.

> So, most of what we normally call "DSLs," (i.e. method chaining languages, overloading operators) aren't.

I don't call these things DSLs. Other people might.

http://www.martinfowler.com/bliki/DomainSpecificLanguage.htm... distinguishes between Internal and External DSLs. Internal DSLs are a style of programming, usually non-idiomatic. External DSls require parsing.

> Other people might.

Other people do. Maybe it's not the proper terminology, but it's too common to ignore it.

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