A Language for High-Level Description of Adaptive Web Systems

Description

This paper focuses on the proposal, design, and implementation of AWL, the Adaptive Web Language. Also, an example application named PENS is explained and implemented in AWL. AWL development was inspired by several issues and shortcomings in the development of adaptive Web systems using the framework for adaptive Web systems, developed in the Intelligent and Adaptive Systems Research Group, at the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, Canada. Lack of verification mechanisms and difficulty in development are two of the existing issues in the framework. Not only does AWL address those issues in the framework, but it also offers mechanisms to increase software quality attributes, especially, reusability. AWL has been designed based on the analysis of adaptive Web systems, having taken into account the principles of reuse-based software engineering (product-lines), domain-specific languages, and aspect-oriented programming, all of which are ongoing research fields in software engineering research. A compiler, named AWL Compiler has been developed, as the implementation of AWL for our adaptive Web framework. AWL Compiler automates the development process through hiding the framework internals from the application designer, and provides verification services so that applications can be verified to be consistent and meaningful. PENS, a personalized e-News system, is explained and its various aspects are developed using AWL. Key words: Adaptive Web Systems, Domain-Specific Languages, Reuse-based Design