Datasheet

Chapter 1: Web 2.0, Python, and Frameworks
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Web 2.0 Capability Description
Plasticity and flexible
recombination
Web 2.0 applications (RIAs) can be remixed into new applications
in ways the original designer and developer may never have con-
sidered. Because they implement MVC, RIAs expose their server-
side invocation syntax to the curious and return their data in a
common format (XML or JSON) that any arbitrary process can
parse (although there are ways to prevent users from invoking
your service, such as requiring private API keys to be passed with
the XHR). Overall, this means that your clever server-side logic can
be leveraged more widely, gaining you fame, perhaps fortune, and
the undying gratitude of your peers.
Invisibility and applications
as services
Applications woven into the Web are no longer software — they
are services that people take for granted. This is a better thing in
the RIA world than it is in the relationship world, because, in the
case of your well-written RIA, it may get you the kind of notice
that changes your career and lifestyle. Just ask the creators of
YouTube what being taken for granted is worth (in their case it was
over $1.6 billion).
Ubiquity of access For almost all Web 2.0 applications, if you have a web browser on a
computer somewhere and a broadband connection (both of which
are attainable in most of the First World), you can get to the content
you have created whether it’s the original manuscript for a book or
your vacation pictures.
Low switching cost, lower total
cost of ownership (TCO)
End users are switching from desktop applications to web-based
applications primarily because of the virtues mentioned previ-
ously. The cost of switching from the use of tools that shackle the
user to services to those that just offer access to their content is
actually pretty low. Further, without having to act as an ad hoc sys-
tem administrator, the cost of using a software capability is lower
for the user, and without integrating with a specific operating sys-
tem, the cost of production is lowered for you, the software devel-
oper. In general, Web 2.0 applications eliminate application
installation, maintenance, update, and configuration management.
Zero footprint and zero
configuration
Although some may argue that a browser is hardly zero footprint,
the point is that for the cost of installing and maintaining a modern
browser, the end user receives a magic box, from which all manner
of applications can spring forth, none of which leaves a footprint
on the desktop. The developer (you) receives the gift of a unifying
API and development strategy, which is also enabled because of
the next point.
Leveraging industry-wide data
transport API (HTTP)
This means that the applications you write have worldwide reach.
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