Web Application Architecture: Principles, Protocols and Practices (Paperback)
Product Description
- This book provides and in-depth examination of the core concepts and general principles of web application development, using examples from specific technologies. This conceptual knowledge is critical when designing and debugging complex systems, and makes it easier to learn the new application programming interfaces (APIs) that arise in the rapidly changing Internet environment
- Split into three sections:
· HTTP protocol as a foundation for web applications
· Discussion of markup languages such as HTML, XML and CSS
· Survey of emerging technologies
- Includes new coverage on technologies including:
· Rapid application approaches Ruby on Rails and Spring
· Application Primers
· Search technology, including Search Engine Optimization
·Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)
·XML Path Language (XPath)
· Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P)
· User-generated content technology for community websites and online collaboration applications
· Security and encryption
From the Back Cover
It is not enough for Web application developers to be proficient in just one platform. As platforms grow and evolve, and as new ones arise, developers must be able to transfer their proficiency across platforms in order to build complex Web applications effectively. This book helps developers understand the underlying core technologies so that they can learn new APIs and application frameworks more quickly.
Web Application Architecture provides an in-depth examination of the basic concepts and general principles associated with Web application development, using examples that illustrate specific technologies. This conceptual knowledge is critical when building and deploying complex systems that are scaleable, extensible, maintainable and reusable. The book explains the underlying protocols and languages that support Web application development, and delineates the best practices associated with building robust applications. It describes mechanisms for providing Web access to heterogeneous data sources including relational databases and multimedia.
The new edition includes brand new and fully updated chapters on:
- Internet protocols – from TCP/IP to HTTP and beyond
- software components – servers, browsers, proxies and agents
- the dynamic web – how web applications present dynamic data
- markup languages – HTML, XML and CSS
- tools, libraries and frameworks – AJAX, Struts, and Ruby on Rails
- search technologies – underlying principles, application design, and SEO
- future directions and emerging technologies – XML Query, RDF, and the Semantic Web
Ideally suited for course usage and self-study, this practical, engaging textbook is essential reading for students, programmers and system architects and designers alike. It provides a comprehensive, timely overview of modern web technology.
Visit the supplementary website at www.wileyeurope.com/college/shklar
Buy Web Application Architecture: Principles, Protocols and Practices (Paperback) at Amazon
Sign up for the InternetMarketingChick.com newsletter to keep up with all the latest tips and deals that I share with my subscribers. Also, there might be a joke or two. Sometimes a fun story. Basically, it's just awesomeness personified. 
This book is an ideal text for providing intermediate-level web developers with a solid grounding in architectural principles and more advanced techniques. Before going into why I like this book I do want to offer one caveat – the authors’ approach is towards the Model-View-Controller paradigm, and is based on Java Standard Tag Library, Jarkata struts and Apache. These are solid elements, but if you are working in a different environment you will not appreciate this book as much.
The historical material in this book is not fluff if you approach it with the intent to gain a fuller understanding of the major components of the Internet and web. This material is rich with details about why the core web technologies developed and evolved, including design choices the pioneers made in the face of constraints. In a subtle way this part of the book is a primer on design and architecture.
What makes this book so valuable is the non-trivial application that brings this book alive. This is a refreshing change from other books that use thinly contrived snippets of code or trivial applications. The code for this application can be downloaded from the book’s supporting web site, which also contains errata (thus far there are only two entries), and articles that are valuable resources with or without this book.
Overall this is one of the better books on web application design and development, and one that dives into code and technical details.
I have to disagree with the reviewer who disparaged this book’s emphasis on history. The background on TCP/IP protocols explained how HTTP came to be and why servers and browsers work the way they do. Discussion of how web development platforms evolved provided insight into the problems newer approaches tried to solve and the problems some of them created. The authors may have gone overboard spouting the merits of “separating content from presentation” and touting the praises of MVC approaches, but their point is a valid one you can really relate to if you’ve worked with page-centric platforms like ASP and JSP. The historical review of different approaches explained the authors’ reasons for ultimately choosing an MVC approach with Struts and JSTL, and offered insights into how development platforms may evolve in the future. This is a book that starts with basics and builds on them, covering protocols, markup languages, and development platforms. The history helps drive the points home. Personally, I learned a lot from this book. I agree that they could have provided a CD-ROM, but it turns out their website (webappbuilders.com) is pretty good and has other good info aside from the app’s source code, including some articles from the authors.
I am not an expert developer but I have a fair amount of experience building financial applications in Java and C++. I spent quite some time looking for a book that would get me started with Web technologies. It is not easy. Yes, there are many books that describe one or another technology but I wanted to find one that puts these technologies in prospective. I was very pleased when I found this book. I can always dig deeper in one direction when I need to but this book helps me to understand how to get started and where to concentrate my efforts. I like it, I think it is very useful.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Basic Book
This book is a good book for those with mimimal knowledge of web technologies. For the expert I would not recommend it. However it is an easy read
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Crossover Book
I’ve been writing Windows-based mutlimedia applications since Windows 95 was released. I’ve been looking for a good book to help the crossover to web application development, and…
5.0 out of 5 stars
good summary
I always thought Amazon search is good but I stumbled upon this book at a store. It’s a useful summary, but not a reference.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good material, too much history
The information in this book is very good and it does cover a lot of ground, but it’s overly heavy on the history of the web and internet.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great resource for evolving development environments
When I first saw this book I looked at the Table of Contents and thought: who is it for? Isn’t it a bit too broad?
5.0 out of 5 stars
All-in-one resource on web application architecture
I’m really impressed by the diverse coverage in this book, from e-mail protocols, HTTP transactions, server and browser architecture, XML and XSLT, to best practices for web…
5.0 out of 5 stars
Where was this book when I needed it?
In my career as a web developer, I had to pick up most of the material compiled in this book anyway I could, whether it was HTTP protocols or web server configuration, or Cold…