Technology, webComputing

webMathematica connects Mathematica to the web. It is a server-based technology built on top of Java servlets. A webMathematica site can return content in many formats including HTML, various image formats, Mathematica notebooks, MathML, and TeX. It can work conveniently with many different web client technologies in browsers such as HTML forms, Java applets, JavaScript, Plug-ins, and ActiveX controls. webMathematica is also compatible with different server technologies such as servlets and JavaServer Pages. webMathematica provides a collection of tools that allow Mathematica commands to be placed inside HTML pages; each time the page is requested from the server these commands are processed by a Mathematica session. The answer is then sent back to you and displayed right there on your browser, usually within a couple of seconds. In addition, the tools control the Mathematica sessions on the server and provide support such as launching, initialization, session pooling, and automatic restart.

How webMathematica Processes a Request:
	1. Make Request The browser sends an HTTP request to the web server. The request references a particular Mathematica Server Pages (MSP) script and includes variables and their values.	2. Forward Request The web server performs any preprocessing steps, such as authentication, and forwards the request to the MSP server.	3. Acquire Session The MSP server acquires a Mathematica session for the request from a pool of preinitialized sessions. Any variables and values are sent to this session, which is then instructed to load the MSP script.	4. Process Page The Mathematica session loads the MSP script and processes any Mathlet tags. It builds and then returns the result.

	7. Receive Response The MSP server accepts the response and adds all the necessary HTTP headers for return to the browser. It then clears any temporary settings in the Mathematica session and releases the session to the pool of available sessions.	6. Return Result The web server performs any postprocessing steps and returns the response to the browser.	5. Release Session The browser accepts an HTML response, which may use applets, plug-ins, or other features of dynamic HTML. Alternatively, the response could be some other format such as MathML, TeX, or a Mathematica notebook.