Web Engineering: Managing Diversity and Complexity of Web Application Development

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.