The book “Generative Programming Methods Tools and Applications” was published in 2000. It made the hypothesis that software would follow the same pattern that car manufacturing does.
In the highly automated car production pipeline it is possible to order a highly customised car yet have it built on a stardard production line from standard parts. GP:MTA assumed that this would soon be possible in software.
Dollard 2005 [Code Generation in dotnet] provides some univetsal priniples for code generation that apply irrespective of the implementation language.
We now have the Wonder articles (phase I) but the process stalled there. Dollard 2005 gives the techniques needed. See github.com/chriseyre2000/perfectstorm for an old but distinct implementation of Dollards ideas.
These techniques did not get the required level of adoption so that reusable templates could be produced. This was left at the initial stages of evolution.
In order to be taken further it will require some big adoption that makes it to a confrence paper. This could bootstrap the reusable catalog idea.
Code generation like this is not a 4GL, merely a means of extracting the business details from the implementation technology. You can achieve reuse without using up key options (single inheretence languages can avoid using up this powerful tool).
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