Introduction


Before moving on to the core of the assignment I firmly believe that there are certain things to explain first, for it would be – not useless, but a real waste if we went on without explaining these terms. So please bear with us for a while as it will certainly help you during your journey as you move further along this blog. So without wasting any more of your time let’s get started.

Software Engineering

As you can see this term consists of 2 distinct words : Software and Engineering. So what is Software and what’s Engineering?

Software

In very simple words, software is defined as computer applications and associated documentation. It refers to the intangible parts of the computer system and is the interface that links the end user to the hardware. For non IT people consider the following case. Say that you have a car and you are the driver. In this case the car is the hardware and you are the end user. So where’s the software? We can say that it is your ACTIONS i.e. what you do is what will drive the car. Similarly, keeping this in mind, software is what will drive the hardware and make it react to the end user.

Engineering : Is a discipline that completely englobes and deals with a particular object in practice.

Software Engineering : Can be defined as a discipline that deals with all aspects of software production - from its design to its implemetation stage.


Monday, October 1, 2007

Web applications

Also referred to as web software, WWW Software, and Web Application Software

Analysing word by word :

Web

The World Wide Web (commonly shortened to the Web) is a system of interlinked, hypertext documents accessed via the Internet.

Application

It is defined as a computer program.

Web application software

1. In software engineering, a Web application or webapp is an application that is accessed via web over a network such as the Internet or an intranet.

2. Software stored on a server and delivered via the Web based on the web, usually a combination of one or more interactive Web pages that can invoke and integrate Browsers, Active Server Pages (ASP), server-side Visual Basic or Java scripts, Access or SQL Server databases, HTML, XML, Cookies, and/or Component Object Model (COM) objects to create a dynamic website for bidirectional submitting, retrieving, and storing of information. A Web application is usually a three-tier structure, comprising a User Service tier (allowing user access to the application), a Business Service tier (allowing the user to carry out complex activities) and a Data Service tier (which allows data storage and retrieval)

Web applications are popular due to the ubiquity of a client, sometimes called a thin client. The ability to update and maintain Web applications without distributing and installing software on potentially thousands of client computers is a key reason for their popularity.

Example of web applications are :

1. Webmail
2. Online retail sales
3. Online auctions
4. Wikis
5. Discussion boards
6. Weblogs.

References:

http://www.bitpipe.com/tlist/Web-Applications-Software.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wide_Web
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_application
http://www.hcirn.com/tutor/webapp/index.php
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