Web Engineering

technologycoulddo,oure?ortsincomputerizingpayrollandaccountingapp- cationsinrealityseemedpunyanddisappointing. TheWeb,ontheotherhand, didnotseemshackled,inawaythatearlycomputingwas,tothesebure- craticandunimaginativewaysofconductinghumanandorganizationala?airs. Itseemedthattheorganizational,spatial,andphysicalconstraintswereabout toloosen,ifnotdisappear,altogether. Andyet,whenwelookedaroundatthewayWebsitesandapplicationswere beingdeveloped,itseemedtousthattheearlypatternofhaphazarddev- opment,minimaltesting,andlackofattentiontothemaintenanceissuesthat characterisedthe'softwarecrisis'werestillverymuchwithus. Itwasasthough the'newgeneration'insistedonmakingthesamemistakesasitsparents! Thisfeelingofd´ej`avuledustoquestionthenatureofWeb-basedandW- relatedactivities. Ofcourse,wewerenotalone,aswesoondiscovered. The resultiswhatisbeingcalledWebEngineeringwhichhadits?rstintroduction inaworkshopattheSeventhWorldWideWeb(WWW7)conferenceinBrisbane in1998. IthasnowbecomeaserieswithmoreworkshopsatWWW8(Toronto, VI Preface 1999)andWWW9(Amsterdam,2000),andalsoattheInternationalConference onSoftwareEngineering(ICSE99)in1999inLosAngelesandICSE2000in Limerick,Ireland. AnotherworkshopisscheduledforWWW10inHongKong inMay2001. Themainpurposebehindtheseworkshopshasbeentoshareandpoolthe collectiveexperienceofpeople,bothacademicsandpractitioners,whoare- tivelyworkingonWeb-basedsystems. Theworkshopshavegenerallyconsisted ofkeynoteaddresses,peer-reviewedcontributedpapers,andsessionsofopen discussions. About This Book Inthisvolume,weprovideaconsolidatedviewofrecentwork,highlightingdev- opmentsandadvancesintheareaofWebEngineering. Thisselectionofpapers drawsmainlyfromthelastthreeworkshops,heldinconjunctionwithICSE1999, WWW9,andICSE2000. Wealsopresentalistofadditional,usefulresourceson WebEngineeringsuchasbooks,specialissues,articles,andWebsites. Ouraim istoprovideabookthatwillbeaconvenientandusefulreferencetoallthe researchers,practitioners,andstudentsinterestedinWebapplicationdevel- ment. WebEngineeringtakesitsinspirationfromSoftwareEngineering. Atthe sametime,itisalsoanexplicitacknowledgementofthemulti-dimensionalnature ofWebapplications,encompassingtechnicalcomputing,informationstruct- ing,navigationandmanagement,networkperformanceandsecurity,legaland socialissues,graphicdesign,multiplicityofuserpro?les,andthevariedope- tionalenvironments. Accordingly,thepapersinthisvolumecoverperspectives onWebEngineering,navigationandadaptivity,designaspects,acceptancec- teriaforWeb-basedsystems,developmentandmanagementofWebsitesand Web-basedapplications,Webmetrics,andcasestudies. Forconvenience,thepapersareorganizedin?vesections:1)Introduction andPerspectives,2)ManagingInformationontheWeb,3)Web-BasedSystems Development,4)DesignforPerformance,WebMetrics,andTesting,and5) WebMaintenanceandReuse. Intheirownways,allthepapersareforwa- looking,tryingtoanticipateproblems,creatingtools,experimentinginnovel ways,wideningtheareasofapplications,andre-examiningparadigms. Inother words,thepapersrepresentasharedattitudeofbeinginclusiveratherthan focusingnarrowly. WebEngineeringisaforwardlookingandcollaborativediscipline. The- persinthiscompendium,takenindividually,representonlythetipoftheiceberg ofworldwideWebdevelopment. Together,theymakeasigni?cantcontribution totheevolutionofamoresystematicapproachtoWebdevelopment. Thec- pendiumhasbeenmadepossiblebythemanypeoplewhosharetheseviews. We hopethereaderswilljoinusintheseendeavors. January2001 SanMurugesan YogeshDeshpande Table of Contents WebEngineering:IntroductionandPerspectives WebEngineering:IntroductionandPerspectives-Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 WebEngineering:ANewDisciplineforDevelopment ofWeb-BasedSystems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 SanMurugesan,YogeshDeshpande,SteveHansenandAthulaGinige WebEngineering:BeyondCS,ISandSEEvolutionary andNon-engineeringPerspectives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .