Web Engineering

LECTURE 3

Some Lectures Notes Belongs to Dr. Federico M. Facca

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Agenda

1. What is Web Engineering?

2. Defining Web Applications.

3. The Case for Web Engineering.

4. Categories of Web Applications.

5. Characteristics of Web Apps.

6. Key Knowledge Areas

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1- What is Web Engineering?

A science that Extends Software Engineering to

Web applications, but with Web-centric
approaches.

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1- What is Web Engineering?

A science that brings to Web-based system

development:
◦ Control
◦ Risk minimization
◦ Enhanced maintainability and quality

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Agenda

1. What is Web Engineering?

2. Defining Web Applications.

3. The Case for Web Engineering.

4. Categories of Web Applications.

5. Characteristics of Web Apps.

6. Key Knowledge Areas

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2- Defining Web Applications

Unlike traditional software, the Web serves as both

development & user platform.

A Web application is a system that utilizes

standards & technologies to deliver Web-specific
resources to clients (typically) through a browser.

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2- Defining Web Applications

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Agenda

1. What is Web Engineering?

2. Defining Web Applications.

3. The Case for Web Engineering.

4. Categories of Web Applications.

5. Characteristics of Web Apps.

6. Key Knowledge Areas

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3- The Case for Web Engineering

Web-based system is a living system—it grows,

evolves, and changes.

An appropriate infrastructure is necessary to

support the growth of a Web based system in a
flexible and controlled manner

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3- The Case for Web Engineering

Application development on the Web remains

largely ad hoc.
◦ Individual experience
◦ Little or no documentation for code/design

Short-term savings lead to long-term problems in

operation, maintenance, usability, etc.

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3- The Case for Web Engineering

Why Now ?
◦ Most projects are now Web-based

◦ More “mission-critical” apps moving to the Web

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3- The Case for Web Engineering

Top Web project pitfalls

• not meeting functionality and the users’ needs

• poor usability
• poor performance
• security breaches
• not functioning properly, including errors and crashes
• poor maintainability
• poor scalability
• schedule and cost over-runs
• abandoned projects—poor project management

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Agenda

1. What is Web Engineering?

2. Defining Web Applications.

3. The Case for Web Engineering.

4. Categories of Web Applications.

5. Characteristics of Web Apps.

6. Key Knowledge Areas

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4- Categories of Web Applications
Semantic
Web
Complexity

Social Web
Collaborative
Workflow Portal
Based Oriented
Transactional

Interactive

Doc-Centric

Development History

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4.1Portal-Oriented

Single points-of-entry to heterogeneous information

◦ Yahoo!, [Link], [Link]

Specialized portals
◦ Business portals (e.g., employee intranet)
◦ Marketplace portals (horizontal & vertical)
◦ Community portals (targeted groups)

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4.2 Semantic Web

Berners-Lee: Information on the Web should be readable to machines,

as well as humans.

Using metadata and ontologies to facilitate knowledge management

across the WWW.

Content syndication (RSS, Atom) promotes re-use of knowledge

Is the Semantic Web even possible?

Authors devote a chapter to the Semantic Web, but we will not focus on
it in this course.

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Agenda

1. What is Web Engineering?

2. Defining Web Applications.

3. The Case for Web Engineering.

4. Categories of Web Applications.

5. Characteristics of Web Apps.

6. Key Knowledge Areas

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5- Characteristics of Web Apps
How do Web applications differ from traditional applications?

Or, another way, what Software Engineering methods & techniques can be adapted
to Web Engineering?

3 dimensions
◦ Product
◦ Usage
◦ Development

To this we can add a 4th dimension peculiar on the web, need for continuous and fast
evolution!

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5.1 Characteristics - Product
The “building blocks” of a Web application
Content
◦ Document character & multimedia (# of dimensions?)
◦ Quality demands
Navigation Structure (Hypertext)
◦ Non-linearity
◦ Disorientation & cognitive overload
User interface (Presentation)
◦ Aesthetics ‫جماليات‬
◦ Self-explanation

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5.2 Characteristics - Usage
Much greater diversity compared to traditional non-Web applications
Social Context (Users)
◦ Spontaneity
◦ Heterogeneous groups
Technical Context (Network & Devices)
◦ Quality-of-Service
◦ Multi-platform delivery
Natural Context (Place & Time)
◦ Globality
◦ Availability

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5.3 Characteristics - Development
The Development Team
◦ Multidisciplinary
◦ Community (including Open Source)

Technical Infrastructure
◦ Lack of control on the client side
◦ Immaturity

Process
◦ Flexibility
◦ Parallelism

Integration
◦ Internal
◦ External

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5.4 The 4th Dimension: Evolution
All the above previous dimension are governed by the evolution principle
◦ Continuous change
◦ Competitive pressure
◦ Fast pace

Software Engineering: evolution is planned in a constant number of release

version

Web Engineering: evolution is continuous

◦ Nowadays this is becoming true also for SE… it’s a loop, when a discipline
overlaps its ancestor, the ancestor learn something back!

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A well-engineered Web system
◦ is functionally complete and correct
◦ is usable
◦ is robust and reliable
◦ is maintainable
◦ is secure
◦ performs reasonably even under flash and peak loads
◦ is scalable
◦ is portable, where required (perform across different common platforms), compatible with multiple
browsers
◦ is reusable
◦ is interoperable with other systems
◦ has universal accessibility
◦ is well-documented

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Agenda

1. What is Web Engineering?

2. Defining Web Applications.

3. The Case for Web Engineering.

4. Categories of Web Applications.

5. Characteristics of Web Apps.

6. Key Knowledge Areas.

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4 Key Knowledge Areas
Software
Hypermedia
Engineering

•Process • Design & Structure

•Design Information Space
•Implementation Web • Navigation
•Test • Visualization
•Operation Engineering • Usability
•Maintenance • Collaboration

Network Information
Engineering © 1997-2005 Dr. Martin Gaedke
Systems

•Physical Layer •Data Design, ER,...

•Internet Layer Others... •RDBMS
•Transport Layer •Query Languages
•Performance •[Link]: FS,...

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Summary
THAT ’S ALMOST ALL FOR TODAY…

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Things to keep in mind

❑Web Engineering is not about HTML and JavaScript and web

technology - Like Software Engineering is not about C or Java!

❑It aims at systematic development of Web applications

according to a specific methodology

❑Web Engineering ask for multidisciplinary approach.

❑Standards are important in Web like in all the other Engineering

fields

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Extra Resources

Suggested
◦ Google “Web Engineering”

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Assignment

Pick up two of the categories introduced today and

provide a small essay on it
◦ Max 2 pages Word, Times 11pt – check plagiarism.

◦ Figures do not count for the space.

◦ Blackboard

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