Yogesh Deshpande

Web Engineering: A New Discipline for Development of Web-Based Systems

In most cases, development of Web-based systems has been ad hoc, lacking systematic approach, and quality control and assurance procedures. Hence, there is now legitimate and growing concern about the manner in which Web-based systems are developed and their quality and integrity. Web Engineering, an emerging new discipline, advocates a process and a systematic approach to development of high quality Web-based systems. It promotes the establishment and use of sound scientific, engineering and management principles, and disciplined and systematic approaches to development, deployment and maintenance of Web-based systems. This paper gives an introductory overview on Web Engineering. It presents the principles and roles of Web Engineering, assesses the similarities and differences between development of traditional software and Web-based systems, and identifies key Web engineering activities. It also highlights the prospects of Web engineering and the areas that need further study.

Web engineering: creating a discipline among disciplines

Web engineering is a discipline among disciplines, cutting across computer science, information systems, and software engineering, as well as benefiting from several non-IT specializations. Intertwining so many disciplines presents a unique problem for organization and development. The authors discuss Web engineerings classification, define its characteristics, and contrast its present issues with previous problems in information technology.

Meeting the challenges of Web application development: the web engineering approach

The Web has very rapidly become central to many applications in diverse areas. As our reliance on Web-based applications continues to increase and the Web systems supporting these applications become more complex, there is growing concern about the manner in which the Web-based systems/applications are created and their quality, integrity and maintainability. The development of Web-based systems has generally been ad hoc, resulting in poor quality and maintainability. In the recent times, there have been many failures of Web applications due to a variety of problems and causes. The way the developers address these problems is critical to deploying successful large-scale Web applications. This paper addresses these issues and offers a holistic approach to managing the complexity of development of Web-based systems and Web applications. It highlights the various real-world issues, challenges and considerations in development of large Web applications, compared to traditional software development, and recommends the Web engineering approach that Web/software developers could follow.

ICSE'99 workshop on web engineering

The workshop would assess the problems of Web-based application systems development, argue the need for Web Engineering approach for developing scalable, quality, large-scale Web-based systems. It would also identify key Web Engineering activities and propose approaches and methods for systematic development of Webbased applications. Further, it would review ongoing work in this area, discuss case studies and best practices, and pave directions further work.

Web site auditing: first step towards re-engineering

There is a growing demand for redesigning the existing Web sites. Many organisations want their sites evaluated, or audited, with recommendations to improve them. Historically, auditing has related to financial matters. It is now applied to other disciplines such as quality, environment, safety, information systems and security. Correspondingly, there are many national and international standards for such audits. Operationally, a financial audit is an independent and expert opinion on how an organisation handles its resources and may recommend, if necessary, changes in the organisational practices to meet the established standards and obligations. In contrast, a Quality audit is meant to aid continuous improvement strategies. The definition and role of a Web site audit are not so clear. This paper addresses these two problems. First, it establishes a general context for Web site auditing in terms of the types of Web-based systems, the stages of Web development and the need for frequent re-engineering of the existing sites. The paper then argues that Web site auditing, as currently understood, is qualitatively different from normal auditing and recommends that it be an integral part of the re-engineering strategy and not be seen as mainly a reassurance exercise.

Web Engineering Curriculum: A Case Study of an Evolving Framework

In their comprehensive review of computing disciplines, the Joint (ACM and IEEE-CS) Task Force on Computing Curricula identified a group of subjects as Net-centric, to be taught at under-graduate level. Web Engineering was still in its infancy at the time. We started a Web Engineering specialization at master’s level in 1999 and have recently reviewed it comprehensively. Based on our experience in teaching different aspects of Web development at both under-graduate and graduate levels, this paper proposes a framework to design curricula for Web Engineering that can evolve in tandem with the evolution of the Web. The framework helps to dovetail the knowledge areas in a coherent manner avoiding a smorgasbord approach to curriculum design.

Use of simulation to test client-server models

Simulation is used for many purposes: for example, to analyse a complex system, to visualise the functioning of a system, and to optimise or tune a system. While there is no limitation on the use of simulation, the general consensus is that an analytical solution, if one is possible, is always to be preferred to simulation as a methodology. In the field of information systems, client-server models exhibit a degree of complexity and richness not amenable to easy analytical solutions, except for some specific algorithms useful in limited contexts. Simulation could, therefore, be a good strategy to analyse the client-server systems and help in better implementation of feasible solutions. This paper examines the current state of client-server models and use of simulation in dealing with the problems encountered. The paper then compares the seven-layer OSI model for communications architecture and recommends that a similarly layered approach is likely to prove useful in simulating client-server systems. In the process, the paper also points out that the simulation models bring into a sharp focus the importance of software metrics, an area of vital importance in software development.

Summary of the second ICSE workshop on web engineering

The series of workshops on Web Engineering started in 1998 with the World Wide Web Conference WWW7 in Brisbane, Australia, and has continued with WWW8 (Toronto, 1999) and WWW9 (Amsterdam, 2000). The first such workshop with the International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE) took place in 1999 in Los Angeles. The second workshop was held on 4-5 June 2000 in Limerick, Ireland and attracted about 30 participants.The main purpose behind these workshops is to share and pool the collective experience of people, both academics and practitioners, who are actively working on Web-based systems.This workshop consisted of two keynote addresses, 11 contributed papers and two sessions of open discussions. The call for papers elicited 18 submissions of which 11 were accepted after peer reviews. The papers presented at the workshop appear in the book Web Engineering (San Murugesan and Yogesh Deshpande (eds.), LNCS, Springer-Verlag, 2000).

Third ICSE workshop on web engineering

The objectives of the workshop cover perspectives on Web Engineering, navigation and adaptivity, design aspects, acceptance criteria for Web-based systems, development and management of Web-based systems, Web metrics and case studies. Researchers and practitioners interested in WebApps development were invited to submit papers describing their work and methodological approaches to WebApps development. Each submission was reviewed by at least two members of the Programme Committee. The selected papers will be presented by the speakers and will form the basis of discussions all round. The workshop will close with a panel discussion.

Web engineering: technical discipline or social process?

This panel aims to explore the nature of the emerging Web engineering discipline. It will attempt to strongly engage with the issue of whether Web Engineering is currently, and (more saliently) should be in the future, viewed primarily as a technical design discipline with its attention firmly on the way in which Web technologies can be leveraged in the design process, or whether it should be viewed primarily as a socio-positioned discipline which focuses on the nature of the way in which projects are managed, needs are understood and users interact.