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?

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?