BEAP: An End-User Agile Programming Paradigm for Business Applications

Business applications are subject to changes withtechnology trends or market demands. However, quick response to thesechanges is still a challenging issue. Most of the existingarchitectures (e.g., CORBA, Web Services) still expose the developersto excessive low-level details and force a tight coupling betweenprogram modules. For end users, developing, customizing, andreengineering applications remain difficult and time-consuming tasks.A high-level programming model is presented, together with a descriptiveprogramming paradigm called BEAP, to facilitate end-user programming.In this approach, applications could be visually composed fromwell-defined software components called ``funnels'' in an event-drivenfashion. Application examples have shown that, by raising the level ofabstraction as well as simplifying the programming model, BEAP couldempower end users to build business applications on demand withimproved productivity.