Web-oriented architecture

Web-oriented architecture (WOA) was coined in 2006 by Nick Gall of the Gartner's group. It is a software architecture style that extends service-oriented architecture (SOA) to web-based applications. WOA was originally created by many web applications and sites, such as social websites and personal websites.

Definitions

The official Gartner definition of Web-Oriented Architecture:

"WOA is an architectural substyle of service-oriented architecture that integrates systems and users via a web of globally linked hypermedia based on the architecture of the Web. This architecture emphasizes generality of interfaces (User interfaces and APIs) to achieve global network effects through five fundamental generic interface constraints:

  • Identification of resources
  • Manipulation of resources through representations (Web resource)
  • Self-descriptive messages
  • Hypermedia as the engine of application state
  • Application neutrality" [1]

Nick Gall also gives a mathematical formula for defining "WOA = SOA + WWW + REST".[2]

Dion Hinchcliffe claims WOA to be:

"A core set of Web protocols like HTTP,HTTPS and plain XML, the only real difference between traditional SOA and the concept of WOA is that WOA advocates Representational state transfer (REST), an increasingly popular, powerful, and simple method of leveraging Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) as a Web service in its own right".[3]

The WOA stack
  • Distribution (HTTP, feeds)
  • Composition (Hypermedia, Mashups)
  • Security (OpenID, SSL)
  • Data Portability (XML, RDF)
  • Data Representation (ATOM, JSON)
  • Transfer Methods (REST, HTTP, BitTorrent)[4]

Enterprise

Enterprise Web Oriented Architecture (EWOA) is a sub-style of Enterprise Service Oriented Architecture (ESOA). EWOA is defined as the sets of web-based architectural elements, environments, principals and processes. There is an expanding set of tools building mashups from WOA resources. These tools are beneficial to IT developers to create interoperability and integration.[5]

New applications and websites, such as Google AdSense, Wikipedia and other RESTful services are using WOA, which is gaining attention from the research community and the industry.[6]

Current WOA examples include Google's OpenSocial and MindTouch.[7]

Mobile API

Mobile APIs are based on becoming more focused in using WOA technology. Creating these services have become easier using simplified web protocols, e.g. REST and JSON (JavaScript Object Notation).

These protocols are much easier for web developers, as they require less CPU and bandwidth. They are more recognised because of large social platforms, such as Facebook, Amazon and Twitter etc.[8]

Differences between WOA and SOA

Web-Oriented Architecture (WOA) is a subset of Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA).[9] SOA (service-oriented architecture) is a modular approach to software development based on the use of distributed, loosely coupled interchangeable components with standardised interfaces for communication over standardised protocols. Web-oriented architecture differs in that it uses a REST approach. REST (Representational State Transfer) is an approach to the architecture of networking protocols that provide access to information resources. Web architecture involves studying the target user, to optimise the website in terms of user flow and structure.[10] The best known system built largely on REST architecture is the modern World Wide Web.[11] Data must be transmitted in a small number of standard formats (e.g. HTML, XML, JSON). The network protocol supports caching, does not depend on a network layer, and does not store state information between request-response pairs. This approach ensures scalability of the system and allows it to easily evolve with new requirements.

See also

References
  1. Nick Gall,WOA: Putting the Web Back in Web Services, Retrieved 28 October 2014
  2. Nick Gall Web-oriented architecture and the rise of pragmatic SOA, Retrieved 28 October 2014
  3. Dion Hinchcliffe, The SOA with reach: Web-Oriented Architecture, 27 October 2014
  4. Hinchcliffe, Dion (2009). Web-Oriented Architecture (Speech). London QCon.
  5. Su, Chuan-Jun. Web-Oriented Architecture (WOA) Enabled Customer-Centric Collaborative Commerce Platform (WCCP) (PDF) (Report). Vol. 7. pp. 402–406.
  6. Dong, Jing; Paul, Raymond & Zhang, Liang Jie (2009). "Chapter 12 : Specifying Enterprise Web-Oriented Architecture". High Assurance Services Computing. Springer. ISBN 978-0387876573.
  7. Aaron Fulkerson, Web Oriented Architecture, Retrieved 30 October 2014
  8. http://www.convertigo.com/crm/from-soa-to-woa.html From SOA to Mobile APIs with Convertigo Mobilizer MADP 25 October 2014
  9. "Web-Oriented Architecture (WOA)". techopedia.com. Retrieved 2023-01-20.
  10. "Web Architecture That Gets Results". weberous.com. Retrieved 2023-01-20.
  11. "What are the types of APIs and their differences?". techtarget.com. Retrieved 2023-01-20.
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