Webobjects advantages – Apple WebObjects 5 User Manual
Page 9

The comprehensive tools and frameworks of WebObjects make it an incredibly powerful
way to create Java server applications. In particular, WebObjects provides four key advantages
over competing solutions: rapid time to market, built-in quality, scalable Java deployment, and
market-proven solutions.
Rapid time to market
WebObjects has long been the tool that demanding customers turn to when time is money.
Its modular architecture enables database configuration, Java programming, and page design
to proceed in parallel. Its rich object-oriented frameworks do most of the hard work for you,
and its integrated tools streamline the process of application design and development.
An added bonus is the ability to create fully functional prototypes in seconds using the Direct
to Web and Direct to Java Client assistants. Leveraging the power of the WebObjects frame-
works, these tools apply heuristics to the data model to define a complete three-tier HTML or
Java application instantly. The appearance of the application is driven by a sophisticated rule
engine, which can be configured inside the application by using Java applets or with the
comprehensive RuleEditor included in the WebObjects developer tools. These prototypes
allow you to browse and edit the database, and can provide a useful starting point for creating
more sophisticated interfaces.
Built-in quality
Developers are all too familiar with Murphy’s law—namely, that anything that can go wrong
will go wrong. WebObjects provides “Murphy protection” by reducing the number of things
that can possibly go wrong. The WebObjects frameworks were created by what many people
consider the best object-oriented design team in the history of our industry. Now, in their fifth
generation, these frameworks have been fine-tuned to handle all the basic tasks of application
server development for you.
Because the vast majority of a WebObjects application is well-tested framework code—not
generated code—there’s very little application-specific code to debug. Also, the isolation of
data, logic, and presentation elements greatly improves both the flexibility and security of
your product. Key information such as database referential integrity constraints (identifying
dependencies between objects) is embedded directly in the model, rather than being wholly
dependent on programmer discipline.
WebObjects Advantages
9