Creating a Web-Based Language Playground using React and TypeScript

We live in a time when we have incredible "building blocks" with which to build applications. This talk will describe the process and tech stack involved in combining these building blocks to create a "playground" web application for the Modelica language. Because the Modelica language is a mathematical modeling language, our playground must not only support editing and compiling code, it must also provide a means of visualizing the mathematical results of simulations.

The talk will start with a discussion about the design system and state management choices and then review the various libraries used to implement markdown rendering, animations and plotting. Along the way, we‘ll cover concerns about GDPR, preventing malicious code injection, deployment and data management.

Michael Tiller received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering and then went to work for Ford Motor Company. After Ford, he worked for Emmeskay, LMS and Dassault Systemes. In 2012, he left Dassault Systemes and moved back to the US to start his own company, Xogeny. In 2019, Xogeny was acquired by Ricardo. He spends most of his professional time pondering how to bring modern software technologies to bear on the engineering domain. He is the author of two different books on Modelica and sits on the board of two different non-profits related to modeling and simulation.

The event is hosted in Cahoots, a co-working space and tech hub in downtown Ann Arbor. See https://cahoots.com/ for information about their facility.