GraphQL is a query-language for data, intended for the modern internet clients on the web and inside mobile phones, invented inside Facebook around 2012, it is currently in a draft specification phase with several open source implementations of the underlying ideas.

The main feature of GraphQL is a shift away from RESTful services where all of the query declaration is on the server side, to one where the client is in control of declaring what it wants. The result is a system which is easy to work with for the front-end developer. GraphQL also supports backward compatibility to earlier client versions. All while being able to maintain a security level at least as good as REST. On the server side, GraphQL provides much the same benefits, acting as a protocol and contract between the server and client.

This talk presents GraphQL itself, and also presents how one goes about building an implementation of the language. The running example is a GraphQL compiler written for Erlang.

Jesper Louis Andersen

Jesper Louis Andersen bridges the gap between theory and practice. He has a curiosity for programming language theory, math, and logic, but dabbles in many other fields of computer science as well. His main interest is to move state-of-the-art computer science research into real world use whenever possible. His dayjob involves functional programming for a danish startup.