Client-Server Web Apps with JavaScript and Java

Chapter 1. Change Begets Change

The entrepreneur always searches for a change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity.

—Peter Drucker

What kinds of changes encourage developers to adopt a client-server approach? Shifts in user behavior, technology, and software development process are the significant forces that have driven developers to change their patterns of design. Each of these factors, in a unique and significant way, makes established patterns obsolete. Together they have encouraged related innovations and a convergence in practice despite the absence of enforcement or mandated standardization.

Web users have changed. In the early days of the Web, users were satisfied with static pages and primitive user interfaces. The modern web user has come to expect a high-performance, interactive, well-designed, dynamic experience. These higher expectations were met with an explosion in new technologies and expansion of web browser capabilities. Today’s web developer needs to use tools and a development approach that are aligned with the modern web scene.

Technology has changed. Browsers and JavaScript engines are faster. Workstations and laptops are far more powerful, to say nothing of the plethora of mobile devices now being used to surf the Web. Web service APIs are the expectation for a modern web application rather than a rare additional feature. Cloud computing is revolutionizing the deployment and operation of web applications.

Software development has changed. The now ...