Re: Webfacing out, EGL in

Aaron Bartell wrote:

I think we are just having differences with word definitions here.
Webfacing is most definitely a modernization strategy! It was simply meant
as a stepping stone part of the modernization strategy to get to the
endpoint that we both agree on to be Java.

I completely concur on this ... Webfacing is (at best) an interim step towards 'modernization'. For some the interim step is sufficient. For most full production level application, however, Webfacing would be viewed as woefully inadequate. For that you would want to do a full redevelopment effort to extract your business logic to stand alone service programs and call them from the various UI's the application is going to use (Green screen, thick client, thin client, web, etc) using whatever your favorite interface mechanism is.

Personally, I view Webfacing as a great way to prototype how a web enabled application is going to be. Show the users who it could look in a context they are already familiar with.

Once they get an idea of the direction it would be going in, then you start reworking the application to be web-centric.

Actually, with Webfacing, you can stage your redevelopment with relatively little impact to the users. Leave the green screen interface in place with a Webfaced front end ... but rework the internals of the application to a more service oriented structure. Once you have all the business logic excised from the application, you can plug the already tested & working procedure calls into more industrial strength web apps.

The future is multi-lingual, multi-tiered, multi-interface, multi-platform,
and the fastest way to get there is EGL.

What an incredibly expensive way to do business.

This is pretty much my biggest gripe about EGL ... the cost.

david