In standard applications, there is an effort made to have any data models be represented by corresponding declared code constructs (such as Java classes). This locks down the model and it is difficult to mutate it while the code is running. This project starts with the assumption that the data models are not necessarily represented by corresponding Java classes. The model (or schema) is defined purely in terms of data constructions. This allows the model to evolve either during the startup of the application or from input from a user (usually an administrator).
As an example of the type of solution that this approach can solve is to imagine an application that is designed to create web based form entry for a random external database table. The administrator imports the design of the table into the application, chooses which fields to show in the form, defines labels, descriptions, and validation rules for the fields, entirely using a web UI. When the administrator is finished, a new form entry solution is created based on a runtime modification to the underlying schema of the the application.
For me, this is not purely an academic issue. Over my three decades of programming the need to dynamically modify runtime schema (usually at startup) has been a reoccurring theme. I have also found that though such solutions are initially more difficult to write, they end up being more efficient and adaptable as the years go by.
At this point, the project is just getting started. The developers on this project will contribute when they have time.
See Dynamic Schema for information on how the DnType objects are defined.
For a web site that demos running the latest version of the code, see dynamicruntime.org.
This product includes GeoLite2 data created by MaxMind, available from https://www.maxmind.com. We use this to find the locations of IP addresses.
We use mailgun to send email.
We encrypt data following the recommendations of Security Best Practices. As a mathematician I find it interesting because the block encoding uses Finite Fields.
We do password hashing following the recommendations of Hashing Security. The new wrinkle these days is the concept of making hash functions deliberately inefficient or slow.
We use Apache FreeMarker for templating pages and email and we use CommonMark for converting markdown to HTML on the server side.