Programming Web Applications Declaratively A Qualitative Study

Abstract

In the declarative programming approach of property models, a dataflow constraint system manages the behavior of a user interface. The dataflow constraint system captures the user-interface logic as a set of variables and dependencies between those variables. This thesis builds on the prior work that realizes the property models approach as a concrete library for web development called HotDrink. This thesis evaluates the effectiveness of the declarative programming approach of property models, describes the experience of implementing a medium-size web application following the approach, and compares property models with existing web frameworks. A particular focus is on how programming with property models helps programmers to avoid defects related to asynchronous execution of responses to user events.