Web Engineering: The Discipline of Systematic Development of Web Applications [Paperback]

Gerti Kappel (Editor), Birgit Prýýll (Editor), Siegfried Reich (Editor), Werner Retschitzegger (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0470015543 | ISBN-13: 978-0470015544 | Publication Date: July 4, 2006 | Edition: 1

The World Wide Web has a massive and permanent influence on our lives. Economy, industry, education, healthcare, public administration, entertainment – there is hardly any part of our daily lives which has not been pervaded by the Internet. Accordingly, modern Web applications are fully-fledged, complex software systems, and in order to be successful their development must be thorough and systematic.

This book presents a new discipline called Web Engineering taking a rigorous interdisciplinary approach to the development of Web applications, covering Web development concepts, methods, tools and techniques. It highlights the need to examine and re-use the body of knowledge found within software engineering and demonstrates how to use that knowledge within the Web environment, putting emphasize on current practices, experiences and pitfalls.

The book is ideal for undergraduate and graduate students on Web-focused or Software Engineering courses, as well as Web software developers, Web designers and project managers.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The World Wide Web has a massive and permanent influence on our lives. Economy, industry, education, healthcare, public administration, entertainment – there is hardly any part of our daily lives which has not been pervaded by the Internet.

Accordingly, modern Web applications are fully-fledged, complex software systems, and in order to be successful their development must be thorough and systematic. Web Engineering is the application of quantifiable approaches to the cost-effective requirements analysis, design, implementation, testing, operation and maintenance of high quality Web applications.

Web Engineers face the same traditional concerns as Software Engineers: the risks of failure to meet business needs, project schedule delays, budget overruns and poor quality of deliverables. But in the Web environment new and complicated issues demand attention, too. Web Engineering addresses the problems associated with shorter lead times which require rapid prototyping and agile methods, the interactivity and visual nature of the medium which make HCI aspects highly significant, and multimedia features of Web applications.

This well-organized guide takes a rigorous interdisciplinary approach to Web Engineering, covering Web development concepts, methods, tools and techniques, and is ideal for undergraduate and graduate students on Web-focused or Software Engineering courses, as well as Web software developers, Web designers and project managers.

About the Author

Gerti Kappel is full professor of Business Informatics at Vienna University of Technology.

Birgit Pröll teaches and researches at Johannes Kepler University (JKU), Linz, Austria.

Siegfried Reich is director of Salzburg Research, the non-profit research organization owned by the County of Salzburg.

Werner Retschitzegger is head of Department of Information Systems at JKU.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (July 4, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470015543
• ISBN-13: 978-0470015544
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 0.9 x 9.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #395,308 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Bringing formal process to web development..., July 21, 2006

By 

Thomas Duff "Duffbert" (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Web Engineering: The Discipline of Systematic Development of Web Applications (Paperback)

This is one of those books that has value, but it's not the style of writing that appeals to me... Web Engineering edited by Gerti Kappel, Birgit Proll, Siegfried Reich, and Werner Retschitzegger. Let me explain...

Contents: An Introduction to Web Engineering; Requirements Engineering for Web Applications; Modeling Web Applications; Web Application Architectures; Technology-aware Web Application Design; Technologies for Web Applications; Testing Web Applications; Operation and Maintenance of Web Applications; Web Project Management; The Web Application Development Process; Usability of Web Applications; Performance of Web Applications; Security for Web Applications; The Semantic Web - The Network of Meanings in the Network of Documents; Glossary; Author Biographies; Bibliography; Credits; Index

This is set up as a compilation of chapters written by a number of contributors. It's better than most compilations, in that it's not a "best of" grab bag of writing styles and approaches. There is an overall structure, and all the subject matter conforms to that structure. It reminds me a lot of a text book that would be used in a college level course. And in fact, that's one of the target audiences. They also aim for the people in the real world of web software development, but the appeal would seem to be for those who are *very* structured in their approach. They aim to bring a structured software development methodology to the world of web development, complete with formal requirement gathering, modeling, etc. Considering how often you get fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants applications at the web level, there is definite benefit to bringing engineering processes to that style of application development. But the type of quick development/rapid iteration development you often see targeted for web applications is more in tune with agile methodologies that are lighter on process and documentation. Your view on the material here will be influenced greatly by your feelings and attitudes towards structured program development processes...

Yes, the quality of web applications can definitely be improved, and the material in this book would help. But to me, there was a bit too much methodology and process coupled with not enough practicality. But maybe if you get your readers in college before we old-timers can corrupt them, this could work... :)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A title for project managers and software developers, September 10, 2007

By 

Pirkka Rannikko (Tampere, Finland) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Web Engineering: The Discipline of Systematic Development of Web Applications (Paperback)

This book is actually an article collection from several different writers. It has a very scientific feel to it and it is definitely not the most readable book out there compared to the more usual "commercial-type" web related titles. Someone could say that the book is written by university teachers for university students.

The book takes things very seriously and covers about everything in web application development that you can think of in a very technical and structural style. This of course is a downside because you can't cover everything about the subject in 384 pages. That is why the different topics in the book tend to be quite shallow in discussion and not getting deep enough into things. I was frustrated by this because despite the hard reading and time spent with the book you couldn't get enough value for your efforts.

I think the suitable target groups other than students are project managers and software developers that are beginning to work with web applications. Even though the book probably won't teach the hardcore web developer anything new, these two target groups will get a good overview and insight of web application development and its' differences with traditional software development. I wouldn't suggest this book for web designers unless they have a very strong technical background or/and competence.

One detail to be mentioned is that in many cases the book uses terms different from the ones we are used to in reading US and UK originated web literature. I think someone else would have named the book: "Web Development: The Discipline of Systematic Development of Web Applications"

4.0 out of 5 stars A good textbook, May 28, 2009

By 

G. Zheng "jg.zheng" (Atlanta) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Web Engineering: The Discipline of Systematic Development of Web Applications (Paperback)

Pretty comprehensive on web engineering topics. Very informative. It is not a pure web programming book, nor is it an interface design book; rather it is a book covering the complete life cycle of website development from an engineering perspective, including planning, analysis, design, programming, testing, maintenance, usability and other topics. I think it is a great textbook for an advanced web development class.