Lupin: from Web Services to Web-based Problem Solving Environments

The research of powerful Problem Solving Environments (PSEs) is strongly motivated by the increasing complexity in scientific and engineering computation. In this paper, an initial design of Lupin, a framework of PSEs construction based on Web technologies is proposed and discussed. We predicate that common infrastructure of PSEs can be powerfully supported by the Web, which is moving from being a collection of static pages toward a collection of dynamic services that interoperate through the Internet. The idea of invoking Web technologies such as XML and the emerging Web services for Lupin’s approach is briefly discussed; A proof-of-concept system based on the current Web service protocols is also presented to check out the term mathematical Web service and how can Lupin benefit from it. Related issues are discussed based on the experiments and new proposals are offered for future research.