

A New Kind of Computer Science:  Can we study web apps in a systematic way a la Wolfram's NKS? - amichail

How would one conduct a systematic study of web apps to identify those with the most interesting behaviors?  Is it possible to simulate users to some extent to make predictions about the virality of an app?  Is it possible to automate our search for viral apps in some way?
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MuddyMo
I am new to Wolfram's work, so I am at a disadvantage, but I find the idea
interesting.

Seems unlikely that the "viral potential" for a given random web app could be
gleaned by perusing the code or that there will soon be technology available
to simulate a user. And if you were to reduce the randomness by somehow
requiring the code or the app to conform to some standard in order to make it
easier to automate the perusal, well we already have a whole SEO industry
dedicated to gaming the current automated search technology, don't we?

At some point don't you think it is likely that the social networking
application model will be co-opted by market testing enterprises who will
design ways to entice lots of people to test software applications while
having their physiological reactions captured online. With a record of human
reactions directly correlated to a specific application, predictive results
from automated searching would then be feasible.

