Domain driven web development with WebJinn

ABSTRACT

Web application development cuts across the HTTP protocol, the client-side presentation language (HTML, XML), the server-side technology (Servlets, JSP, ASP, PHP), and the underlying resource (files, database, information system). Consequently, web development concerns including functionality, presentation, control, and structure cross-cut, leading to tangled and scattered code that is hard to develop, maintain, and reuse. In this paper we analyze the cause, consequence, and remedy for this crosscutting. We distinguish between intra-crosscutting that results in code tangling and inter-crosscutting that results in code scattering. To resolve inter-crosscutting, we present a new web application development model named XP that introduces extension points as place-holders for structure-dependent code. We present another model named DDD that incorporates XP into the Model-View-Controller (MVC) model to resolve both intra- and inter-crosscutting. WebJinn is a novel domain-driven web development framework that implements the DDD model. WebJinn has been used to develop web applications at several web sites. Domain driven web development with WebJinn benefits from a significant improvement in code reuse, adaptability, and maintainability.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
        D.2.11 Software Architectures
            Subjects: Domain-specific architectures

Additional Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
        D.2.11 Software Architectures
            Subjects: Patterns (e.g., client/server, pipeline, blackboard)
        D.2.13 Reusable Software
            Subjects: Domain engineering; Reuse models
      D.2.2 Design Tools and Techniques
          Subjects: Software libraries; Modules and interfaces

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

General Terms:
Design, Languages

Keywords:
JSP, adaptability, aspect-oriented programming (AOP), crosscutting concerns, dynamic pages, generative programming, inter-crosscutting, intra-crosscutting, model-view-controller (MVC), reusability, scattering, struts, tangling, web application, web development, web programming