Experience report: ocsigen, a web programming framework

ABSTRACT

The evolution of Web sites towards very dynamic applications makes it necessary to reconsider current Web programming technologies. We believe that Web development would benefit greatly from more abstract paradigms and that a more semantical approach would result in huge gains in expressiveness. In particular, functional programming provides a really elegant solution to some important Web interaction problems, but few frameworks take advantage of it.

The Ocsigen project is an attempt to provide global solutions to these needs. We present our experience in designing this general framework for Web programming, written in Objective Caml. It provides a fully featured Web server and a framework for programming Web applications, with the aim of improving expressiveness and safety. This is done by taking advantage of functional programming and static typing as much as possible.

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INDEX TERMS

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

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.3 INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL
      H.3.5 On-line Information Services
          Subjects: Web-based services

General Terms:
Design, Languages, Reliability, Security

Keywords:
ML, XHTML, implementation, networking, objective CAML, ocsigen, programming, services, typing, web