Web-based applications: extending the general perspective of the service of web

Abstract

It has been almost three decades since the introduction of the service of web; meantime various related concepts like Service Oriented Architecture, Cloud Computing, and Internet of Things have been amalgamated to the domain of the web based development. Yet, the view of the service of web and the definitions of the basic related concepts have not been adequately updated. The notion behind the generic term “web application” and its definition do not cover the diverse types of applications available these days, which utilize the service of web. This paper provides an overview of the generic web applications, and then extends the discussion through a contemporary perspective, proposing the umbrella term “web-based application” to address a wider range of systems, which are not likely to be covered by the term “web application”. Then the paper proposes a definition for it, focusing on the abstract architectural formalism of the applications, which use the service of web. The paper also discusses the development techniques and technologies, aligning to the proposed definition. In future, we expect to further extend this knowledge towards defining the modern face of the web-based applications, which is the Rich Internet Application.