Automated object persistence for JavaScript

Abstract

Traditionally web applications have required an internet connection in order to work with data. Browsers have lacked any mechanisms to allow web applications to operate offline with a set of data to provide constant access to applications. Recently, through browser plug-ins such as Google Gears, browsers have gained the ability to persist data for offline use. However, until now it's been difficult for a web developer using these plug-ins to manage persisting data both locally for offline use and in the internet cloud due to: synchronization requirements, managing throughput and latency to the cloud, and making it work within the confines of a standards-compliant web browser. Historically in nonbrowser environments, programming language environments have offered automated object persistence to shield the developer from these complexities. In our research we have created a framework which introduces automated persistence of data objects for JavaScript utilizing the internet. Unlike traditional object persistence solutions, ours relies only on existing or forthcoming internet standards and does not rely upon specific runtime mechanisms such as OS or interpreter/compiler support. A new design was required in order to be suitable to the internet's unique characteristics of varying connection quality and a browser's specific restrictions. We validate our approach using benchmarks which show that our framework can handle thousands of data objects automatically, reducing the amount of work needed by developers to support offline Web applications.

Tae-Js

“…For example, Cannon and Wohlstadter [6] describe a persistence library for JavaScript programs. Figure 2 shows how the original code snippet can be enhanced with persistence.…”

“…For our case studies, we replicated the functionalities provided by three third-party libraries that enhance JavaScript programs with persistence [6], security [26], and transactions [9].…”

“…To address these issues, Cannon and Wohlstadter [6] introduced a persistence framework for JavaScript that offers persistence facilities similar to those found in frameworks for the Java language (e.g., Hibernate and JDO 4 ). Specifically, the introduced framework can detect mutations of persistent objects, serialize persistent objects to store them locally, and synchronize local and remote copies of persistent objects.…”

“…As their implementation strategy, they extended the language with a new keyword, transaction that the programmer can use to delineate transaction boundaries; the implementation also includes a library, called Transcript, with the API for managing transactions. 1 var pcEncryptV1 = AspectScript.Pointcuts.get("pd"); 2 var pcDecryptV1 = AspectScript.Pointcuts.set("mid"); 6 tx.commit(); 7 }; 8 9 AspectScript.after(pcTranV1, adviceTranV1); Figure 18. AspectScript code enhanced with transactions.…”

“…If each concern's implementation is modularized, programmers can change concerns in isolation without perturbing the rest of the program. Recent state-of-the-art approaches add various (mostly non-functional) concerns to JavaScript programs by providing libraries and frameworks that enhance JavaScript programs with persistence [6], security [26], and transactions [9].…”