Jayavel Shanmugasundaram
Hilda: A High-Level Language for Data Driven Web Applications
This project develops technology to support data-driven Web applications. It is based on Hilda, a new high-level language that addresses some significant shortcomings of current Web application technologies. Hilda provides a uniform data model for the presentation, application and data layers; clear separation of application and presentation logic; support for structured programming driven by the logical structure of the application; and support for application-level conflict resolution.
The project produces a Hilda compiler with advanced optimizations, client-server code partitioning, and data caching. It also provides tools to support application integration, testing and schema migration. Using these tools, the project develops several reference Hilda applications including CMS, a new course-management system that will replace a similar conventionally-built system currently being used by several thousand students.
Among the broader impacts of this project will be open-source release of the optimizing Hilda compiler and tools, together with a number of substantial applications implemented in Hilda. One of these applications will be CMS; another will be an application to make data collected by the Arecibo radio telescope (www.naic.edu) accessible to members of Physics research community and the general public. The development of these Hilda applications will be done primarily by undergraduates, and by high-school students as part of the Ithaca Learning Web program. Project publications, software and results will be made available at www.cs.cornell.edu/database/hilda.
