Type-oriented construction of web user interfaces

ABSTRACT

This paper proposes a new technique for the high-level construction of type-safe web-oriented user interfaces. Our approach is useful to equip applications processing structured data with interfaces to manipulate these data in an efficient and maintainable way. The interfaces are web-based, i.e., the data can be manipulated with standard web browsers without any specific requirements on the client side. In order to support type-safe user interfaces, i.e., interfaces where users can only input type-correct data (types can be standard types of a programming language as well as any computable predicate on the data), we propose a set of type-oriented building blocks from which interfaces for more complex types can be easily constructed. This technique leads to a very concise and maintainable implementation of web-based user interfacesWe show an implementation of this concept in the declarative multi-paradigm language Curry. In particular, its integrated functional and logic features are exploited to enable the high level of abstraction proposed in this paper.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  D. Software
  D.1 PROGRAMMING TECHNIQUES
      D.1.1 Applicative (Functional) Programming

Additional Classification:
  D. Software
  D.1 PROGRAMMING TECHNIQUES
      D.1.6 Logic Programming
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
      D.2.2 Design Tools and Techniques
          Subjects: User interfaces
  D.3 PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES
      D.3.2 Language Classifications
          Subjects: Multiparadigm languages
      D.3.3 Language Constructs and Features
          Subjects: Polymorphism

  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.2 User Interfaces (D.2.2, H.1.2, I.3.6)

General Terms:
Languages

Keywords:
functional logic programming, user interfaces, web programming