Flapjax

The Flapjax language has just been publically released. This is very exciting, for many reasons.

First, Flapjax is globally persistent. The language comes with built-in server-side storage, and you don't even have to provide the server. User-based ownership is also built in, and data can be shared between users. So you can easily build little web services without having to deal with all the issues surrounding user authentication, email confirmation, secure data sharing between users, building a server farm, etc.

Second, Flapjax is reactive, which means it has a cool dataflow-like, spreadsheet-like mechanism that makes it easy to work with dynamically-changing variables (called behaviors) without having to write a bunch of glue code to propagate changes. For example, you can display the current time, and the user interface will just automatically update whenever the time changes.

Third, Flapjax is web-based, so Flapjax programs are immediately relevant to the modern world. Flapjax grew out of a project that was based on Scheme, and the Scheme part alone pretty much doomed that previous project to irrelevance.

Fourth, Flapjax is built by the same group that I've been working with for the last year or so at Brown, so it's exciting to me personally. I'm currently writing a paper on how to do static optimization for the previous Scheme-based version, and I'm glad to see the ideas live on in a new, more accessible incarnation.

So now you should go read through the Flapjax tutorial. It's entertaining, englightening, and if you're anything like me, it may rekindle your spark of curiosity and excitement.

Posted on October 13, 2006 09:08 AM
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