DEGREE PROJECT, IN , SECOND LEVEL STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN 2015 WeTS - Web Technology Selection Guidelines CHU ZHU & WEIYAN SHAO KTH ROYAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY SCHOOL OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY Abstract Web development is receiving increasing attention among all kinds and sizes of companies. Web presentation has become a hygiene factor for companies nowadays. Fortunately, nowadays web developers can choose from a great number of ready-made technologies instead of developing everything from scratch. However, web development technologies have evolved much in the past 20 years. Due to the increased complexity and diversity of the alternatives, it is getting more and more difficult for companies to make an overall good choice of technologies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that usually do not have resources to make a thorough research before choosing. This thesis creates WeTS - Web Technology Stack Guidelines, which contains three parts: process, algorithm and software quality characteristics. By following WeTS, inexperienced web developers, especially in SMEs, can select web technology stacks in an optimal way. Meanwhile, WeTS could be used for experienced practitioners and researchers as a reference to have an overview about modern web development technologies. Based on WeTS Guidelines, this thesis evaluated a number of technology stacks. Then a case study was performed with a startup company named Sqore. By comparing WeTS with Sqore’s technology selection process step by step, this thesis evaluated WeTS Guidelines. Keywords: Web application development, WeTS, small and medium enterprises, technology selection Table of Contents List of Figures .............................................................................................................................................vii List of Tables .............................................................................................................................................viii Chapter 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................1 1.1 Background ....................................................................................................................................1 1.2 Problem ..........................................................................................................................................2 1.3 Goal ................................................................................................................................................2 1.4 Contribution ...................................................................................................................................2 1.4 Scope and Limitations ...................................................................................................................2 1.5 Target .............................................................................................................................................3 1.6 About Student Competitions AB ...................................................................................................3 1.7 Thesis Outline ................................................................................................................................3 Chapter 2 Research Methodology ..............................................................................................................4 2.1 Research Strategy ..........................................................................................................................4 2.2 Type of Research Method ..............................................................................................................5 2.3 Phases ............................................................................................................................................6 2.3.1 Initial Study ......................................................................................................................6 2.3.2 Develop WeTS Guidelines ...............................................................................................6 2.3.3 Evaluate WeTS Guidelines ...............................................................................................9 2.4 Evaluation Criteria .........................................................................................................................9 2.5 Sampling ......................................................................................................................................10 2.6 Instruments .................................................................................................................................10 2.6.1 Software Quality Characteristics for Web Technologies ................................................10 2.6.2 Semi-structured Interview ..............................................................................................11 2.6.3 Unstructured Interviews .................................................................................................11 2.7 Validity Threats ............................................................................................................................12 !i 2.7.1 Credibility .......................................................................................................................12 2.7.2 Transferability .................................................................................................................12 2.7.3 Dependability .................................................................................................................12 2.7.4 Confirmability ................................................................................................................12 Chapter 3 Extended Background .............................................................................................................13 3.1 Web and Web Page .......................................................................................................................13 3.2 Web Application ...........................................................................................................................13 3.3 Web Technologies ........................................................................................................................13 3.3.1 Server OS ........................................................................................................................16 3.3.2 HTTP Server ...................................................................................................................17 3.3.3 Database .........................................................................................................................18 3.3.4 Programming Language and Web Framework ...............................................................18 Chapter 4 Software Quality Characteristics .........................................................................................22 4.1 Higher Level Software Quality Characteristics for Evaluation Criteria ......................................22 4.2 Sub-characteristics ......................................................................................................................22 4.3 Selected Characteristics (Result and Analysis) ............................................................................23 Chapter 5 WeTS Guidelines ......................................................................................................................27 5.1 Overview ......................................................................................................................................27 5.2 WeTS Processes ...........................................................................................................................27 5.3 WeTS Algorithm ..........................................................................................................................28 5.4 WeTS Software Quality Characteristics ......................................................................................29 Chapter 6 Evaluate WeTS Guidelines ......................................................................................................30 6.1 Overview ......................................................................................................................................30 6.2 Selecting Technology Stack Using WeTS Guidelines .................................................................30 6.2.1 Step 1: Identify Quality Characteristics .........................................................................30 6.2.2 Step 2: For each selected quality characteristics, define evaluation criteria ..................30 Documentation ........................................................................................................................31 !ii 6.2.3 Step 3: Identify candidate technology stacks .................................................................32 6.2.4 Step 4: For each technology stack, evaluate it using the evaluation criteria ..................33 6.2.5 Summary .........................................................................................................................36 6.3 Sqore Technology Stack Selection ...............................................................................................36 6.3.1 Overview ........................................................................................................................36 6.3.2