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| In ], a '''web application''' is an ] delivered to users from a ] over a network such as the ] or an ]. Web applications are popular due to the ubiquity of the ] as a ], sometimes called a ]. The ability to update and maintain web applications without distributing and installing software on potentially thousands of clients is another reason they are popular. Applications like ], ] and ] are well known examples of web applications but they have uses in many other areas of business and science. | |||
| {{short description|Application that uses a web browser as a client}} | |||
| {{Multiple issues| | |||
| {{More citations needed|date=February 2018}} | |||
| {{Original research|date=May 2022}} | |||
| {{Cleanup rewrite|reason=quality standards|date=May 2022}} | |||
| }} | |||
| ], a groupware and open-source web application]] | |||
| A '''web application''' (or '''web app''') is ] that is created with ] and runs via a ].<ref name="britannica" /><ref name="aws-web-app" /> Web applications emerged during the late 1990s and allowed for the server to ] build a response to the request, in contrast to ].<ref name="docforge-web-app" /> | |||
| Web applications are commonly distributed via a ]. There are several different tier systems that web applications use to communicate between the web browsers, the client interface, and server data. Each system has their own uses as they function in different ways. However, there are many security risks that developers must be aware of during development; proper measures to protect user data is vital. | |||
| Though many variations are possible, a web application is commonly structured as a ] application. In its most common form, a web browser is the first tier, an engine created using some dynamic web content technology (e.g., ], ], Java ]s or ]) is the middle tier, and a database is the third tier. The web browser sends requests to the middle tier, which services them by making queries and updates against the database and generating a user interface. | |||
| Web applications are often constructed with the use of a ]. ] and ] are two approaches for a ] to ] more like a ] app. | |||
| An emerging strategy for application software companies is to provide web access to software that has heretofore been distributed as local applications. These programs allow the user to pay a monthly or yearly fee for use of a software application without having to install it on a local hard drive. A company which follows this strategy is known as an ] (ASP), and ASPs are currently receiving much attention in the software industry. | |||
| ==History== | |||
| The concept of a "web application" was first introduced in the Java language in the Servlet Specification version 2.2, which was released in 1999. At that time, both JavaScript and ] had already been developed, but the ] object had only been recently introduced on Internet Explorer 5 as an ] object.<sup>]'']</sup> Beginning around the early 2000s, applications such as "] (2003), ] (2004), ] (2004), ] (2005)," started to make their client sides more and more interactive. A web page script is able to contact the server for storing/retrieving data without downloading an entire web page. The practice became known as Ajax in 2005. | |||
| In earlier computing models like client-server, the processing load for the application was shared between code on the server and code installed on each client locally. In other words, an application had its own pre-compiled client program which served as its ] and had to be separately installed on each user's ]. An upgrade to the server-side code of the application would typically also require an upgrade to the client-side code installed on each user workstation, adding to the ] cost and decreasing ]. Additionally, both the client and server components of the application were bound tightly to a particular ] and ], which made ] them to other systems prohibitively expensive for all but the largest applications. | |||
| Later, in 1995, ] introduced the ] language called ], which allowed programmers to add ] to the user interface that ran on the client side. Essentially, instead of sending data to the server in order to generate an entire web page, the embedded scripts of the downloaded page can perform various tasks such as ] or showing/hiding parts of the page. | |||
| "]", the term coined by designer Frances Berriman and ] engineer Alex Russell in 2015, refers to apps taking advantage of new features supported by modern browsers, which initially run inside a web browser tab but later can run completely offline and can be launched without entering the app URL in the browser. | |||
| ==Structure== | |||
| {{Primary sources|section|date=November 2022}} | |||
| Traditional PC applications are typically single-tiered, residing solely on the client machine. In contrast, web applications inherently facilitate a multi-tiered architecture. Though many variations are possible, the most common structure is the ] application. In its most common form, the three tiers are called ''presentation'', ''application'' and ''storage''. The first tier, presentation, refers to a web browser itself. The second tier refers to any engine using dynamic web content technology (such as ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ] or ]). The third tier refers to a database that stores data and determines the structure of a user interface. Essentially, when using the three-tiered system, the web browser sends requests to the engine, which then services them by making queries and updates against the database and generates a user interface. | |||
| The 3-tier solution may fall short when dealing with more complex applications, and may need to be replaced with the n-tiered approach; the greatest benefit of which is how ] (which resides on the application tier) is broken down into a more fine-grained model.<ref name="ntiered" /> Another benefit would be to add an integration tier, which separates the data tier and provides an easy-to-use interface to access the data.<ref name="ntiered" /> For example, the client data would be accessed by calling a "list_clients()" function instead of making an ] query directly against the client table on the database. This allows the underlying database to be replaced without making any change to the other tiers.<ref name="ntiered" /> | |||
| There are some who view a web application as a two-tier architecture. This can be a "smart" client that performs all the work and queries a "dumb" server, or a "dumb" client that relies on a "smart" server.<ref name="ntiered" /> The client would handle the presentation tier, the server would have the database (storage tier), and the business logic (application tier) would be on one of them or on both.<ref name="ntiered" /> While this increases the scalability of the applications and separates the display and the database, it still does not allow for true specialization of layers, so most applications will outgrow this model.<ref name="ntiered" /> | |||
| ==Security== | |||
| {{Main|Internet security}} | |||
| {{More citations needed section|date=February 2018}} | |||
| Security breaches on these kinds of applications are a major concern because it can involve both enterprise information and private customer data. Protecting these assets is an important part of any web application, and there are some key operational areas that must be included in the development process.<ref name="dell-secure" /> This includes processes for authentication, authorization, asset handling, input, and logging and auditing. Building security into the applications from the beginning is sometimes more effective and less disruptive in the long run. | |||
| ==Development== | |||
| Writing web applications is simplified with the use of ]. These frameworks facilitate ] by allowing a development team to focus on the parts of their application which are unique to their goals without having to resolve common development issues such as user management.<ref name="docforge" /> | |||
| In addition, there is potential for the development of applications on ]s, although currently there are not many viable platforms that fit this model.{{cn|date=November 2022|reason=Possibly undue, a source establishing weight of this in web application development overall is needed.}} | |||
| ==See also== | ==See also== | ||
| {{portal|Internet}} | |||
| *] | |||
| *] |
* ] | ||
| * ] | |||
| *] | |||
| * ] | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | * ] | ||
| *] | * ] | ||
| * ] | |||
| *] (web standards) | |||
| *] | * ]s | ||
| * ]s | |||
| * ] | |||
| ==References== | |||
| {{Reflist|refs= | |||
| <ref name="britannica">{{cite web |title=Web app {{!}} Definition, History, Development, Examples, Uses, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Web-application |website=www.britannica.com |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=4 November 2024 |language=en}}</ref> | |||
| <ref name="docforge-web-app">{{cite web |title=Web applications |url=http://docforge.com/Web_application |website=DocForge |access-date=9 November 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150419035250/http://docforge.com/Web_application |archive-date=19 April 2015}}</ref> | |||
| <ref name="aws-web-app">{{cite web |title=What is a Web App? - Web Application Explained - AWS |url=https://aws.amazon.com/what-is/web-application/ |website=Amazon Web Services, Inc. |access-date=4 November 2024}}</ref> | |||
| <ref name="ntiered">{{Cite web |url=http://krunal-ajax-javascript.blogspot.bg/2008/09/benefits-of-using-n-tiered-approach-for.html |title=Benefits of using the n-tiered approach for web applications |last=Petersen |first=Jeremy |date=4 September 2008 |access-date=24 November 2017 |archive-date=1 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201080946/http://krunal-ajax-javascript.blogspot.bg/2008/09/benefits-of-using-n-tiered-approach-for.html |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
| <ref name="dell-secure">{{cite web|url= http://content.dell.com/us/en/enterprise/d/large-business/secure-app-development.aspx|title= Top Tips for Secure App Development|publisher= Dell.com|access-date= 2012-06-22|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120522022522/http://content.dell.com/us/en/enterprise/d/large-business/secure-app-development.aspx|archive-date= 2012-05-22|url-status= dead}}</ref> | |||
| <ref name="docforge">{{cite web | url=http://docforge.com/Web_application_framework | title=Web application framework | author=Multiple (wiki) | work=Docforge | access-date=2010-03-06 | archive-date=2020-06-20 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200620213429/http://www.docforge.com/Web_application_framework | url-status=dead }}</ref> | |||
| }} | |||
| ==External links== | ==External links== | ||
| *, changes to HTML and related APIs to ease authoring of web-based applications. | |||
| * | |||
| * at the (W3C) | |||
| * by ]. | |||
| {{Web interfaces}} | |||
| {{Authority control}} | |||
| {{DEFAULTSORT:Web Application}} | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
Revision as of 10:48, 21 November 2024
Application that uses a web browser as a client
 | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages)
|
A web application (or web app) is application software that is created with web technologies and runs via a web browser. Web applications emerged during the late 1990s and allowed for the server to dynamically build a response to the request, in contrast to static web pages.
Web applications are commonly distributed via a web server. There are several different tier systems that web applications use to communicate between the web browsers, the client interface, and server data. Each system has their own uses as they function in different ways. However, there are many security risks that developers must be aware of during development; proper measures to protect user data is vital.
Web applications are often constructed with the use of a web application framework. Single-page and progressive are two approaches for a website to seem more like a native app.
History
The concept of a "web application" was first introduced in the Java language in the Servlet Specification version 2.2, which was released in 1999. At that time, both JavaScript and XML had already been developed, but the XMLHttpRequest object had only been recently introduced on Internet Explorer 5 as an ActiveX object. Beginning around the early 2000s, applications such as "Myspace (2003), Gmail (2004), Digg (2004), Google Maps (2005)," started to make their client sides more and more interactive. A web page script is able to contact the server for storing/retrieving data without downloading an entire web page. The practice became known as Ajax in 2005.
In earlier computing models like client-server, the processing load for the application was shared between code on the server and code installed on each client locally. In other words, an application had its own pre-compiled client program which served as its user interface and had to be separately installed on each user's personal computer. An upgrade to the server-side code of the application would typically also require an upgrade to the client-side code installed on each user workstation, adding to the support cost and decreasing productivity. Additionally, both the client and server components of the application were bound tightly to a particular computer architecture and operating system, which made porting them to other systems prohibitively expensive for all but the largest applications.
Later, in 1995, Netscape introduced the client-side scripting language called JavaScript, which allowed programmers to add dynamic elements to the user interface that ran on the client side. Essentially, instead of sending data to the server in order to generate an entire web page, the embedded scripts of the downloaded page can perform various tasks such as input validation or showing/hiding parts of the page.
"Progressive web apps", the term coined by designer Frances Berriman and Google Chrome engineer Alex Russell in 2015, refers to apps taking advantage of new features supported by modern browsers, which initially run inside a web browser tab but later can run completely offline and can be launched without entering the app URL in the browser.
Structure
 | This section relies excessively on references to primary sources. Please improve this section by adding secondary or tertiary sources. Find sources: "Web application" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (November 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Traditional PC applications are typically single-tiered, residing solely on the client machine. In contrast, web applications inherently facilitate a multi-tiered architecture. Though many variations are possible, the most common structure is the three-tiered application. In its most common form, the three tiers are called presentation, application and storage. The first tier, presentation, refers to a web browser itself. The second tier refers to any engine using dynamic web content technology (such as ASP, CGI, ColdFusion, Dart, JSP/Java, Node.js, PHP, Python or Ruby on Rails). The third tier refers to a database that stores data and determines the structure of a user interface. Essentially, when using the three-tiered system, the web browser sends requests to the engine, which then services them by making queries and updates against the database and generates a user interface.
The 3-tier solution may fall short when dealing with more complex applications, and may need to be replaced with the n-tiered approach; the greatest benefit of which is how business logic (which resides on the application tier) is broken down into a more fine-grained model. Another benefit would be to add an integration tier, which separates the data tier and provides an easy-to-use interface to access the data. For example, the client data would be accessed by calling a "list_clients()" function instead of making an SQL query directly against the client table on the database. This allows the underlying database to be replaced without making any change to the other tiers.
There are some who view a web application as a two-tier architecture. This can be a "smart" client that performs all the work and queries a "dumb" server, or a "dumb" client that relies on a "smart" server. The client would handle the presentation tier, the server would have the database (storage tier), and the business logic (application tier) would be on one of them or on both. While this increases the scalability of the applications and separates the display and the database, it still does not allow for true specialization of layers, so most applications will outgrow this model.
Security
Main article: Internet security | This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Security breaches on these kinds of applications are a major concern because it can involve both enterprise information and private customer data. Protecting these assets is an important part of any web application, and there are some key operational areas that must be included in the development process. This includes processes for authentication, authorization, asset handling, input, and logging and auditing. Building security into the applications from the beginning is sometimes more effective and less disruptive in the long run.
Development
Writing web applications is simplified with the use of web application frameworks. These frameworks facilitate rapid application development by allowing a development team to focus on the parts of their application which are unique to their goals without having to resolve common development issues such as user management.
In addition, there is potential for the development of applications on Internet operating systems, although currently there are not many viable platforms that fit this model.
See also
- Web API
- Software as a service (SaaS)
- Mobile development framework
- Web 2.0
- Web engineering
- Web GIS
- Web services
- Web sciences
- Web widget
References
- "Web app | Definition, History, Development, Examples, Uses, & Facts | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
- "What is a Web App? - Web Application Explained - AWS". Amazon Web Services, Inc. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
- "Web applications". DocForge. Archived from the original on 19 April 2015. Retrieved 9 November 2024.
- ^ Petersen, Jeremy (4 September 2008). "Benefits of using the n-tiered approach for web applications". Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
- "Top Tips for Secure App Development". Dell.com. Archived from the original on 2012-05-22. Retrieved 2012-06-22.
- Multiple (wiki). "Web application framework". Docforge. Archived from the original on 2020-06-20. Retrieved 2010-03-06.
External links
- HTML5 Draft recommendation, changes to HTML and related APIs to ease authoring of web-based applications.
- Web Applications Working Group at the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
- PWAs on Web.dev by Google Developers.
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