Building highly-interactive, data-intensive, REST applications: the Invenio experience

ABSTRACT

With the explosion of Web 2.0 ideas and technologies such as XML, REST, and RIAs (Rich Internet Applications), developers are now creating "mashup" applications that aggregate numerous sources of information and promote rich user interaction. Although many innovative mashups are being created, there has been little research systematically examining which technologies to use and how to design and implement such applications. We describe the features and complexity inherent within a data-intensive, REST-based, RIA entitled, Invenio. Invenio combines a variety of different technologies (Yahoo! Maps, Amazon Associates Web Service, REST, and the Flex framework) to geographically visualize aggregated music chart information. We report on our experiences in designing and authoring Invenio, use Invenio's requirements as a case study to examine relevant technologies and recommend a set of possible "best practices" for developing other RIAs.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization
  C.2 COMPUTER-COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
      C.2.4 Distributed Systems
          Subjects: Distributed applications

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.3 INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL
      H.3.5 On-line Information Services
          Subjects: Web-based services

General Terms:
Design