Role of Process

The process provides a framework and a context to understand things in. Models make it easier to understand complex things, but because multiple models are made for any given system, exactly how and when they are created is just as important as the models themselves.

This book describes in some detail the process of creating Web applications, but it is not meant to be a complete process handbook. The process of developing software is such a large topic that the vast majority of the material in it would have very little Web applicationspecific material. Instead of creating a complete process manual for Web application development, I decided to create a book that introduces the basics of the process, just enough to set the context for the Web applicationspecific discussions.[4] In this way, you can identify and understand the important aspects of Web application development without its being tied too closely to a specific software development process. This separation of Web application development material from the process makes it easier for those with specialized and customized development processes to use the material in this book.

[4] For a book that details the process specifically for J2EE enterprise applications, see Peter Eeles, Kelli Houston, and Wojek Kozaczynski, Building J2EE Applications with the Rational Unified Process (Boston, MA: Addison-Wesley, 2002).