EXORCISING DEMON - A MODULAR AND LIGHTWEIGHT APPROACH TO DEPLOYING APPLICATIONS ON THE WEB

The World Wide Web (W3) is increasingly been seen as a platform for en abling remote access to new and existing applications from different c lient machines. While some applications have been deployed through spe cialised, proprietary W3 servers, the majority utilise the CGI interfa ce provided by standard servers to provide all application functionali ty external to the server itself. Using experience gained in developin g the BSCW Shared Workspace system, we argue that this ''API-based'' a pproach is both too restrictive and too ''heavyweight'' for the needs of many applications, which often require a small subset (or a differe nt implementation) of the features the server offers. In contrast, we propose a more modular, component-based approach to enable application s for the World Wide Web, and present a prototype implementation of an integration toolkit which demonstrates this. As well as the potential for greater flexibility, performance and smaller application size, th is approach also naturally extends to other methods of access and inte raction such as electronic mail.