For-Each Operations in Collaborative Apps

Abstract

Conflict-free Replicated Data Types (CRDTs) allow collaborative access to an app's data. We describe a novel CRDT operation, for-each on the list of CRDTs, and demonstrate its use in collaborative apps. Our for-each operation applies a given mutation to each element of a list, including elements inserted concurrently. This often preserves user intention in a way that would otherwise require custom CRDT algorithms. We give example applications of our for-each operation to collaborative rich-text, recipe, and slideshow editors.