Generic language technology research focuses on the development of fundamental techniques for language processing. The Asf+Sdf Meta-Environment, an interactive development environment for the automatic generation of interactive systems, is an example of research in this field. The Meta-Environment has been applied in various projects in order to enable the development of high quality tools for the analysis and transformation of large software systems written in languages such as C, Java, Cobol, and PL/I. The Meta-Environment offers the interactive construction of language definitions and the generation of tools given these definitions. Over the years, this system has been used in a variety of academic and industrial projects ranging from formal program manipulation to conversion of industrial Cobol systems.