Epoca RIA

Internet-ul s-a schimbat enorm de la aparitia sa in 1990. Daca acum cativa ani inca puteai gasi pagini HTML scrise integral in Notepad, in ziua de azi vorbim de AJAX, Adobe Flex, Microsoft Silverlight si mult asteptatul JavaFX. Dar de fapt toate aceste concepte se refera la acelasi lucru: RIA - Rich Internet Applications si o noua epoca in evoluatia Web-ului: Web 2.0.
S-a vorbit mult despre Web 2.0, incepand cu intrebarea evidenta: ce inseamna Web 2.0? Si ce inseamna Web 1.0? Sa incep cu sfarsitul: Web 1.0 inseamna tot ce a existat pana la aparitia 2.0. O descriere cam vaga, nu-i asa?

Web 2.0 nu inseamna neaparat tehnologii noi, poti crea un site Web 2.0 foarte bine in notepad folosind PHP si MySQL. Ce difera?

The term "Web 2.0" describes the changing trends in the use of World Wide Web technology and web design that aim to enhance creativity, communications, secure information sharing, collaboration and functionality of the web.

Nici eu nu m-as fi putut exprima mai bine. Pe scurt, nu ai nevoie de RIA ca sa creezi un site 2.0 ( cel mai bun exemplu sunt blog-urile).

Ok ok veti spune voi, dar ce este RIA pana la urma?
RIA aduce cu sine interfete grafice mult mai expresive si o noua paradigma. Ca sa citez din nou din Wikipedia:

* Richer. They can offer user-interface behaviors not obtainable using only the HTML widgets available to standard browser-based Web applications. This richer functionality may include anything that can be implemented in the technology being used on the client side, including drag and drop, using a slider to change data, calculations performed only by the client and which do not need to be sent back to the server, for example, a mortgage calculator.

* More responsive. The interface behaviors are typically much more responsive than those of a standard Web browser that must always interact with a remote server.
* Client/Server balance. The demand for client and server computing resources is better balanced, so that the Web server need not be the workhorse that it is with a traditional Web application. This frees server resources, allowing the same server hardware to handle more client sessions concurrently.
* Asynchronous communication. The client engine can interact with the server without waiting for the user to perform an interface action such as clicking on a button or link. This allows the user to view and interact with the page asynchronously from the client engine's communication with the server. This option allows RIA designers to move data between the client and the server without making the user wait. Perhaps the most common application of this is pre-fetching data, in which an application anticipates a future need for certain data and downloads it to the client before the user requests it, thereby speeding up a subsequent response. Google Maps uses this technique to load adjacent map segments to the client before the user scrolls them into view.
* Network efficiency. The network traffic may also be significantly reduced because an application-specific client engine can be more intelligent than a standard Web browser when deciding what data needs to be exchanged with servers. This can speed up individual requests or responses because less data is being transferred for each interaction, and overall network load is reduced. However, over-use of asynchronous calls and pre-fetching techniques can neutralize or even reverse this potential benefit. Because the code cannot anticipate exactly what every user will do next, it is common for such techniques to download extra data, not all of which is actually needed, to many or all clients.

Lucrez de aproape un an cu Adobe Flex, avand ca backend J2EE si pot spune ca aplicatiile dezvoltate cu el arata extraordinar, se misca foarte bine si definesc cel mai bine conceptele esentiale Web 2.0:

Web 2.0 is the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the Internet as a platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform.

Voi reveni cat de curand cu articole despre fiecare din tehnologiile RIA curente.