The dialog between the browser and the server is simulated
We are building complex web applications for years now, and the dialog between the browser and the server is well known and with very clear and simple rules. But did it ever occur to you that what for the browser and the server is a perfect and normal dialog, for the developers AND for the users (at least for those users that are able to see this) this is all just a very big and nasty simulation?
Huh?
Here is what I am saying: the browser requests a page, the server receives the request, then according to some configuration files (I am thinking now on the Java platform, but this is similar to any other platform, be it C/C++, .NET, Ruby On Rails, whatever) it selects the piece of code to execute, lets the code to execute and then returns the result to the server. Cool, so what? As I said, this process is perfectly logical, and for both parties there is nothing simulated here.
But for the developer this dialog is OK and normal only if she/he creates a simple personal web page or some presentation site, similar to a Word document but with links between pages. For any web application that is just a little bit more complex, many simulations and workarounds and stuff that are not really normal must be performed.