Matthias Felleisen (Northeastern University) Shriram Krishnamurthi (Brown University)
Over the past few years, the Web has evolved from a static medium into a dynamic one. Many Web sites now enter into interactive dialogs with consumers. Unfortunately, the existing technology for building interactive Web services is inherently flawed. As a result, many Web programs are broken and cannot keep up with consumers' actions in Web browsers.
The investigators propose to investigate the foundations of Web services. Specifically, they will develop models of interactions on the Web; they will use the models to study common errors in interactive Web programs; and they intend to develop protection mechanisms against such errors.
The proposers also intend to translate their theoretical designs into working prototypes. They intend to use their existing server and Web programming infrastructure to implement type systems and run-time checks for CGI scripting (`a la Perl) and servlet programming (`a la Java). They will port some existing Web applications (including conference management, workshop registration) to this new software infrastructure and will thus test the practical validity of their efforts. Consequently, they expect to improve the quality of an increasingly critical medium of communication and commerce.
