Abstract

This introductory lecture gives the motivation for the course, some information about the people involved and the organization of the course, a high-level overview of the course's topics, and an overview of the assignments which are an important part of the course program.

Building Things That Actually Work

• Building things …
  • building is designing (with a lot of implicit design decisions)
  • building things uncovers an essential set of constraints
  • changing things should not be not too hard (if they are well-designed)
• … that actually work
  • work means more than look good for the final demo
  • how adaptable is an application to a changing environment?
  • how easy is it to integrate new input and output channels?
  • how easy can it be extended to meet new requirements?
• System design is (an important) part of design
  • isolated design approaches (for example, UI only) will not deliver the best solutions
  • an end-to-end view involves the complete view of a system
• Start building things as early as possible

What is Architecture?

Architecture vs. Design

What is an Architect?

• Star Architects are not typical
  • they sell brand names and deliver high profile results
  • most architects are more modest and less visible
• Architects must understand how things work
  • a reasonable understanding of the disciplines involved
  • an excellent understanding of disciplines have to interact
  • negotiating between specialists for a good overall design
• Architects are guides
  • they provide guidance for going in the right direction
  • they can tell why this direction is the right direction
  • they can explain why a wrong direction is wrong

How to become a Web Architect?

• Understand Web technologies and their dependencies
  • no need to become an expert in all of the areas
  • the important part is understanding the dependencies
• Understand how to compare application architectures
  • there is no best solution for any given problem
  • every solution must be evaluated in terms of various constraints
• Next steps for your career in Web architecture
  • understand how the back-end plumbing (a.k.a. XML) works in detail
  • get involved in real-world projects in the ISD Clinic

Course Setup

• Broad overview of core Web technologies
  • this is not a Web design or Web programming course
• Assignments working with various Web technologies
  • how to setup and configure a Web server
  • how to deliver client-specific content
  • how to design client-specific styles
  • using Ajax for creating more dynamic Web pages
  • repurposing existing content for syndication
• Final project looking at a real-world case study
  • apply a Web architecture view o a Web application architecture
  • come up with an analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats