For me, the web is URIs, a standard set of verbs and a standardized EVAL function. The verbs are mostly GET and POST and the standardized EVAL function is the concept of a browser that can EVAL HTML and can eval JavaScript. I don't thing we can afford to leave JavaScript out of the top level definition of what the Web is because there is too much at stake.

There is a huge difference between a web of algorithms and a web of data. For computing eons, we have known that a combination of algorithms and data structures lead to programs. Less well known (outside computer science) are the problems of trying to build applications using one without the other or trying to fake one using the other.

Lisp, TeX, SGML...all of these evidence the struggle between declarative and imperative methods. Today, the problems are all the same but the buzzwords are different: JavaScript, XSLT, XML...

(defun eval. (e a)
  (cond
    ((atom e) (assoc. e a))
    ((atom (car e))
     (cond
       ((eq (car e) 'quote) (cadr e))
       ((eq (car e) 'atom) (atom (eval. (cadr e) a)))
       ((eq (car e) 'eq) (eq (eval. (cadr e) a)
                             (eval. (caddr e) a)))
       ((eq (car e) 'car) (car (eval. (cadr e) a)))
       ((eq (car e) 'cdr) (cdr (eval. (cadr e) a)))
       ((eq (car e) 'cons) (cons (eval. (cadr e) a)
                                 (eval. (caddr e) a)))
       ((eq (car e) 'cond) (evcon. (cdr e) a))
       ('t (eval. (cons (assoc. (car e) a)
                        (cdr e))
                  a))))
    ((eq (caar e) 'label)
     (eval. (cons (caddar e) (cdr e))
            (cons (list (cadar e) (car e)) a)))
    ((eq (caar e) 'lambda)
     (eval. (caddar e)
            (append. (pair. (cadar e) (evlis. (cdr e) a))
                     a)))))

• http://www.paulgraham.com/rootsoflisp.html

(define (eval exp env)
  (cond ((self-evaluating? exp) exp)
        ((variable? exp) (lookup-variable-value exp env))
        ((quoted? exp) (text-of-quotation exp))
        ((assignment? exp) (eval-assignment exp env))
        ((definition? exp) (eval-definition exp env))
        ((if? exp) (eval-if exp env))
        ((lambda? exp)
         (make-procedure (lambda-parameters exp)
                         (lambda-body exp)
                         env))
        ((begin? exp) 
         (eval-sequence (begin-actions exp) env))
        ((cond? exp) (eval (cond->if exp) env))
        ((application? exp)
         (apply (eval (operator exp) env)
                (list-of-values (operands exp) env)))
        (else
         (error "Unknown expression type -- EVAL" exp))))

• http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book-Z-H-26.html