Tufts CS 117 (Fall 2024):
Internet-scale Distributed Systems

Tufts CS 117 Reading Assignment:
From Documents to Applications

Overview

Until now, we've studied the Web as it was originally used: as a system for publishing documents and information. Now we turn to some of issues that arise when the Web is extended to include dynamic JavaScript applications such as Google Maps, Twitter, or Facebook. These applications integrate with the traditional browser environment, but they also raise some significant architectural challenges.

This assignment is to read two TAG Findings and to answer some questions:

BTW: you will notice that Noah is co-editor of the first finding. The story is that Tim Berners-Lee had written a somewhat similar document with the same ideas years before. In 2006 he asked the TAG to help clean it up and give it a wider audience. Noah did the editing for the revised version (you can compare them to get a sense of the way documents like this sometimes evolve from informal notes to something a bit more polished.)

Assignment

Please read the Rule of Least Power finding carefully and completely. Read the Identifying Application State through section 2.3. Skim the rest if you find it interesting.

Required Reading

Please read the following:

Getting the Questions

A set of questions is provided for your consideration below. In past years, students were asked to submit answers to these questions for grading. This year I ask only that you carefully consider these questions prior to our class discussion.

Review questions for this assignment

Do not submit your answers to these questions. Have them ready for class discussion on Thursday November 21.

The material in these readings and the associated questions may be on the final exam.