Abstracting eventually consistent databases for offline web application usage

Abstract

The aim of this project is to provide an abstraction layer for an eventually consistent database, namely CouchDB, and its client side implementation, PouchDB in a manner which makes it easier for software developers to use. This is achieved through the development of a JavaScript framework which provides a higher level of abstraction on top of PouchDB. The framework focuses on improving an application mechanisms within the eventually consistent NoSQL database, to give the developer a choice of pre-set algorithms which handle any arising conflicts between data documents. Although we are moving towards having round the clock connectivity to the web, it is not yet safe to assume that users will always have a stable connection especially due to the rise of mobile device usage. Through the use of features contained within the HTML5 web standard, nowadays, we can move our web applications offline through the use of browser storage thus allowing users with a flaky internet connection to have a seamless browsing experience. This project focuses on creating conflict resolution algorithms for different CouchDB conflicts, abstracting the database to a further level to make the implementation of such algorithms easier for developers. In addition, it also focuses on the development of an auctioning web application which allows offline. Furthermore, it focuses on integrating the conflict resolution framework built on top of PouchDB into the same auctioning web application.