Specialized Web Application Servers

So far, we've talked about generic models of Web application systems suitable for hosting any type of Web application. Recently, specialized Web application servers, which are geared for serving very specific needs, have been introduced. If the degree of end-user interactivity is a metric for categorizing Web applications, sites hosting up-to-the-minute news stories would be at the low end of the interactivity spectrum and sites hosting an electronic banking application would be at the high end of the interactivity spectrum.

As a result, vendors have come up with specialized application servers to cater to a variety of needs. Application servers such as Vignette's StoryServer are geared toward content management and delivery over the Web, whereas servers such as IBM's n-commerce and Net.Data are more useful for interactive applications involving financial transactions such as online storefronts.

Let's now focus on how URLs can be used to reveal information about the various building blocks of a Web application. What we started in Web Hacker Psychology in Chapter 5, we finish here.