Building Personal Software with Reactive Databases

Abstract

Spreadsheets and relational databases can simplify the creation of a variety of software, particularly for end-users who are less familiar with programming. This thesis extends techniques from those tools in three novel ways. First, we show how existing real-world web applications can be extended without doing traditional programming, using a spreadsheet view. Second, we show how text documents can be gradually enriched into personal software tools using similar techniques. Finally, we demonstrate a new reactive relational data architecture for building complex applications with rich interactions and stringent performance requirements. Together, these projects empower both end users and application developers with simpler tools for developing software.