Building Blocks for a Web Programming Language

Abstract

The essential characteristics of a Web application are concurrency, distribution and XML processing. Excluding the emphasis on XML, these are the natural elements of normal distributed applications. This means that we should consider Web applications as distributed programs, where the special need for XML processing is explicit. Currently this is difficult, but we present a motivation and building blocks for a new Web programming language that targets the Web as an application platform. We also outline the structure of the necessary runtime environment and show where our language fits within the competitive landscape of programming languages aimed at developing Web applications and services.