BRL: Code simply, that others might simply code
Date	Friday, 14DEC01
Time	2-3pm
Speaker	Bruce Lewis
Affiliation
Abstract	Non-programmers took limited control of what happens when a web form is submitted with cgiemail's user-friendly templates. However, cgiemail's syntax did not extend nicely with new features. BRL solves this problem using Scheme syntax, while maintaining cgiemail's simplicity for simple cases. This talk will explain how the imperative programming behind other web template systems (e.g. JSP) precludes the simplicity BRL allows. This simplicity makes BRL a demonstrably superior glue language between a web server and a relational database. Its conciseness makes it practical for lectures on software engineering for web applications. If time permits, this talk will also explain how BRL efficiently transforms template files into lambda expressions that can be passed to a Scheme compiler. The current BRL implementation uses Per Bothner's Kawa Scheme to compile BRL pages to Java classes in a process invisible to the end user.
Location	200 Technology Square (aka "NE43")
Room	8th Floor Playroom
Bio