Rich Interface Technologies: Web API - Essay Example

1- Web API & 2- Rich Interface Technologies Web API Summary of Web API Web API is a new web based technology that has revolutionized the way people communicate over the internet. The adoption of Web API in recent times has allowed developers to enrich their sites with new features (Halper et al., 2011). The demand and need for web API has been further facilitated by desire for website owners to maintain their data and codes as well as the need to have their services rendered across multiple programming languages. Some of the key functions of web APIs include the sending, modification and receiving of events, Web APIs have also been adopted in the creation, updating or querying of dynamic data as well as performing SSL encryption and HTTP and SSL authentication. Some of the factors that have fueled the growth of web APIs have also been contributed by the growth of mobile (Gosnell, 2005) devices and the need to distribute services across multiple platforms. This has been through development of web based applications that support sharing of data such as photos, geographical mapping and even online payment services. Advantages of use Web API Several advantages have been attributed to the use and adoption of web API, they include the following (Halper et al., 2011) listed below: Increased market reach Business found using APIs have found that they ultimately increase their customer and partner reach by more than 70%. This is attributed to the ease in which businesses make connections as well as the fact by which companies ability to open up their services to more platforms and devices is improved. Increased volumes It can also be said that the use of web API’S have resulted in increased traffic and service use by participant entities. This has been attributed to a more that 60% increase in the use of Web services to companies. Productivity and innovation benefits The creation and adoption of Web API has also seen the improvements of developer’s productivity that has greatly impacted on innovation. For instance the integration of email services with social media companies has highlighted but a few of these innovations. Disadvantages of Web API The use of web APIs have not gone without the challenges that come about with risk of attacks. Considering the fact that web APIs have often involved the use and integration of data, this has attracted attackers (Halper et al., 2011) to access privileged data either through SQL injection or XML attacks that have greatly compromised on the stability of web APIs as in most cases there operation are challenges due compromised latency handling of data. Evaluation of Web API Evaluating web API from a business point of view it would be correct to point out that many business organizations and companies have realized that they can no longer expect to connect with a sufficient number (Halper et al., 2011) of customers only through a web browser. It with this regard that they are turning into the use of web API’s to increase their reach as it enables them to work with more partners so as to drive distribution through applications to more customers. And while customers are able to identify many concrete technical benefits, the result of this has seen Web APIs increase the business ability to grow in innovation and change. Case study on Web API One of the most adapted Web API is mapping technology where website owners can integrate their location details by using map APIs most popular being Google Maps. A well-known case study involves Intoscana (Google, 2009)which is Tuscany’s official website that was created to expose the beautiful Tuscany region with its rich history and culture to the rest of the world. They have integrated the Google Maps API in their website as well as the Street View API that makes it easy for people to play virtual tourist and walk through the historic cities such as Florence and explore some famous landmarks virtually. Reference Adobe, n.d. Considerations for developing Adobe AIR applications for mobile. [Online] Available at: http://www.adobe.com/devnet/air/articles/considerations-air-apps-mobile.html [Accessed 14 April 2012]. Campesato, O. & Nilson, K., 2010. Web 2.0 Fundamentals With Ajax, Development Tools, and Mobile Platforms. 1st ed. Jones & Bartlett Learning. Google, 2009. Google Maps API. Report. Google Inc. Gosnell, D.M., 2005. Professional Development with Web APIs: Google, EBay, Amazon.com, MapPoint, FedEx. John Wiley & Sons. Halper, F., Hurwitz, J. & Kaufman, M., 2011. A Web API Study: The Benefits of APIs in the App Economy. Report. Needham: Hurwitz & Associates. Harper, S. & Yeliz, Y., 2008. Web Accessibility: A Foundation for Research. Springer. Owasp, n.d. Ajax and Other "Rich" Interface Technologies. [Online] Available at: https://www.owasp.org/index.php/Ajax_and_Other_%22Rich%22_Interface_Technologies [Accessed 14 April 2012]. Tiwari, S., 2011. Professional BlazeDS: Creating Rich Internet Applications with Flex and Java. John Wiley & Sons. Rich Interface Technologies Summary of Rich Interface Technologies Rich interface technologies (RIT) are often been styled as Web 2.0. This has always been supported with emerging technologies such as AJAX, Flash or Active X, though in all these technologies AJAX has been the most dominant through its base technologies notably JavaScript and XML (Owasp, n.d.). These technologies have been widely implemented in popular websites and services such as Gmail and Flickr. The key goal behind RITs are to provide sophisticated interface for representing complex processes and data as well as minimizing client-server data transfers (Harper & Yeliz, 2008). Rich internet technologies benefits from the web iniquitousness to enhance the traditional web application model to add rich user interface elements altogether with a flexible and asynchronous server interaction mechanism. Advantages of use Rich Interface Technologies Some of the advantages of Rich interface (Tiwari, 2011)technologies include: They are easy to deploy and maintain Being a web application, a web browser with a Rich interface technology client engine is enough to access the application. Thus updates are made intrinsically automatic. They are richer By this they can offer close to desktop usability performance. This can include client side functionalities such as multi-window, multi-tab and drag and drop capabilities. They are more secure Considering that most rich internet applications are run from a sandbox concept, this restricts them from harm that applications can do compared to installed applications. Disadvantages of use Rich Interface Technologies A major disadvantage that comes with Rich interface technologies is the over reliance of internet connection (Owasp, n.d.). This can be a challenge in situations where the internet connection is not stead as this would adversely affect user experience. Another disadvantage that comes about with the use of sand box concept is the facts that rich interface technologies have restricted access to system resources hence their operations cannot exploit the robust features offered by the system. Evaluation of Rich Interface Technologies With the popularity of internet as a standard of delivery mechanism for rendering dynamic data driven application and content, there is a growing demand to adopt more flexible, dynamic and rich web applications that provide more effective and efficient way to present and process complex visual information (Harper & Yeliz, 2008). Rich interface technologies are a reality in many business areas as they have shown to be sufficient in providing better support and higher level of abstraction for web applications that have replaced traditional desktop applications. Case study on Rich Interface Technologies The use of rich interface technologies has evolved to support the development of stand-alone mobile applications (Adobe, n.d.). This has been achieved through the use of Adobe Air that has been used to create user interface that is adaptable and scalable for small screens. Furthermore it is through these rich interface technologies that have seen the integration of existing technologies such as Adobe Air that have been integrated with software and hardware facilities and have rendered usability on touch screens. Reference adobe, n.d. Considerations for developing Adobe AIR applications for mobile. [Online] Oswald Campesato, K.N., 2010. Web 2.0 Fundamentals With Ajax, Development Tools, and Mobile Platforms. 1st ed. Jones & Bartlett Learning. Owasp, n.d. Ajax and Other "Rich" Interface Technologies. [Online] Available at: https://www.owasp.org/index.php/Ajax_and_Other_%22Rich%22_Interface_Technologies [Accessed 14 April 2012]. Simon Harper, Y.Y., 2008. Web Accessibility: A Foundation for Research. Springer. Tiwari, S., 2011. Professional BlazeDS: Creating Rich Internet Applications with Flex and Java. John Wiley & Sons. Read More