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Some demo improvements
author Adam Chlipala <adamc@hcoop.net>
date Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:34:36 -0500
parents cbeb1683dc6a
children d2dfdf90b9b6
comparison
equal deleted inserted replaced
500:581554f8e642 501:7ef4b2911b09
1 <p><b>Ur/Web</b> is a domain-specific language for programming web applications backed by SQL databases. It is (strongly) statically-typed (like ML and Haskell) and purely functional (like Haskell). <b>Ur</b> is the base language, and the web-specific features of Ur/Web (mostly) come only in the form of special rules for parsing, type inference, and optimization. The Ur core looks a lot like <a href="http://sml.sourceforge.net/">Standard ML</a>, with a few <a href="http://www.haskell.org/">Haskell</a>-isms added, and kinder, gentler versions added of many features from dependently-typed languages like the logic behind <a href="http://coq.inria.fr/">Coq</a>. The type system is much more expressive than in ML and Haskell, such that well-typed web applications cannot "go wrong," not just in handling single HTTP requests, but across their entire lifetimes of interacting with HTTP clients. Beyond that, Ur is unusual is using ideas from dependent typing to enable very effective metaprogramming, or programming with explicit analysis of type structure. Many common web application components can be built by Ur/Web functions that operate on types, where it seems impossible to achieve similar code re-use in more established languages.</p> 1 <p><b>Ur/Web</b> is a domain-specific language for programming web applications backed by SQL databases. It is (strongly) statically-typed (like ML and Haskell) and purely functional (like Haskell). <b>Ur</b> is the base language, and the web-specific features of Ur/Web (mostly) come only in the form of special rules for parsing and optimization. The Ur core looks a lot like <a href="http://sml.sourceforge.net/">Standard ML</a>, with a few <a href="http://www.haskell.org/">Haskell</a>-isms added, and kinder, gentler versions added of many features from dependently-typed languages like the logic behind <a href="http://coq.inria.fr/">Coq</a>. The type system is much more expressive than in ML and Haskell, such that well-typed web applications cannot "go wrong," not just in handling single HTTP requests, but across their entire lifetimes of interacting with HTTP clients. Beyond that, Ur is unusual is using ideas from dependent typing to enable very effective metaprogramming, or programming with explicit analysis of type structure. Many common web application components can be built by Ur/Web functions that operate on types, where it seems impossible to achieve similar code re-use in more established languages.</p>
2 2
3 <p>This demo is built automatically from Ur/Web sources and supporting files. If you unpack the Ur/Web source distribution, then the following steps will build you a local version of this demo: 3 <p>This demo is built automatically from Ur/Web sources and supporting files. If you unpack the Ur/Web source distribution, then the following steps will build you a local version of this demo:
4 4
5 <blockquote><pre>./configure 5 <blockquote><pre>./configure
6 make 6 make
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91 <p>This example shows how to mix the module system with SQL to implement a kind of "abstract data type." The functor <tt>RefFun.Make</tt> takes in a type belonging to the type class of those types that may be included in SQL. The functor output includes an abstract type <tt>ref</tt>, along with operations for working with <tt>ref</tt>s via transactions. In the functor implementation, we see that <tt>ref</tt> is implemented as <tt>int</tt>, treated as primary keys of a SQL table.</p> 91 <p>This example shows how to mix the module system with SQL to implement a kind of "abstract data type." The functor <tt>RefFun.Make</tt> takes in a type belonging to the type class of those types that may be included in SQL. The functor output includes an abstract type <tt>ref</tt>, along with operations for working with <tt>ref</tt>s via transactions. In the functor implementation, we see that <tt>ref</tt> is implemented as <tt>int</tt>, treated as primary keys of a SQL table.</p>
92 92
93 <p>The functor creates a new encapsulated SQL sequence and table on each call. These local relations show up in the automatically-generated SQL file that should be run to prepare the database for use, but they are invisible from client code. We could change the functor to create different SQL relations, without needing to change client code.</p> 93 <p>The functor creates a new encapsulated SQL sequence and table on each call. These local relations show up in the automatically-generated SQL file that should be run to prepare the database for use, but they are invisible from client code. We could change the functor to create different SQL relations, without needing to change client code.</p>
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95 tree.urp
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97 <p>Here we see how we can abstract over common patterns of SQL queries. In particular, since standard SQL does not help much with queries over trees, we write a function for traversing an SQL tree, building an HTML representation, based on a user-provided function for rendering individual rows.</p>
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95 sum.urp 99 sum.urp
96 100
97 <p>Metaprogramming is one of the most important facilities of Ur. This example shows how to write a function that is able to sum up the fields of records of integers, no matter which set of fields the particular record has.</p> 101 <p>Metaprogramming is one of the most important facilities of Ur. This example shows how to write a function that is able to sum up the fields of records of integers, no matter which set of fields the particular record has.</p>
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99 <p>Ur's support for analysis of types is based around extensible records, or <i>row types</i>. In the definition of the <tt>sum</tt> function, we see the type parameter <tt>fs</tt> assigned the <i>kind</i> <tt>{Unit}</tt>, which stands for records of types of kind <tt>Unit</tt>. The <tt>Unit</tt> kind has only one inhabitant, <tt>()</tt>. The kind <tt>Type</tt> is for "normal" types.</p> 103 <p>Ur's support for analysis of types is based around extensible records, or <i>row types</i>. In the definition of the <tt>sum</tt> function, we see the type parameter <tt>fs</tt> assigned the <i>kind</i> <tt>{Unit}</tt>, which stands for records of types of kind <tt>Unit</tt>. The <tt>Unit</tt> kind has only one inhabitant, <tt>()</tt>. The kind <tt>Type</tt> is for "normal" types.</p>
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131 metaform2.urp 135 metaform2.urp
132 136
133 <p>This example showcases code reuse by applying the same functor as in the last example. The <tt>Metaform2</tt> module mixes pages from the functor with some new pages of its own.</p> 137 <p>This example showcases code reuse by applying the same functor as in the last example. The <tt>Metaform2</tt> module mixes pages from the functor with some new pages of its own.</p>
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135 tree.urp
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137 <p>Here we see how we can abstract over common patterns of SQL queries. In particular, since standard SQL does not help much with queries over trees, we write a function for traversing an SQL tree, building an HTML representation, based on a user-provided function for rendering individual rows.</p>
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139 crud1.urp 139 crud1.urp
140 140
141 <p>This example pulls together much of what we have seen so far. It involves a generic "admin interface" builder. That is, we have the <tt>Crud.Make</tt> functor, which takes in a description of a table and outputs a sub-application for viewing and editing that table.</p> 141 <p>This example pulls together much of what we have seen so far. It involves a generic "admin interface" builder. That is, we have the <tt>Crud.Make</tt> functor, which takes in a description of a table and outputs a sub-application for viewing and editing that table.</p>
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143 <p>The signature of <tt>Crud.Make</tt> is based around a type function <tt>colMeta</tt>, which describes which supporting values we need for each column. This function is declared with the keyword <tt>con</tt>, which stands for "constructor," the general class of "compile-time things" that includes types. An argument to <tt>colMeta</tt> has kind <tt>(Type * Type)</tt>, which means that it must be a type-level tuple. The first type is how the column is represented in SQL, and the second is how we represent it in HTML forms. In order, the components of the resulting record give: 143 <p>The signature of <tt>Crud.Make</tt> is based around a type function <tt>colMeta</tt>, which describes which supporting values we need for each column. This function is declared with the keyword <tt>con</tt>, which stands for "constructor," the general class of "compile-time things" that includes types. An argument to <tt>colMeta</tt> has kind <tt>(Type * Type)</tt>, which means that it must be a type-level tuple. The first type is how the column is represented in SQL, and the second is how we represent it in HTML forms. In order, the components of the resulting record give: