A software system is provided to allow a computer to install and process web
applications
according to the invention. Such web applications are written as web pages that
have access to the full range of operating system resources, including those not
accessible through a web browser. Preferably, a web application is built using
three types of languages used for constructing web pages, namely: (a) a visual
presentation language; (2) a data modeling language; and (3) a scripting language
for embedding logic. The software system preferably comprises a web application
manager, an operating system interface module, a scripting language interpreter,
and optionally a web browser and/or a data modeling language processor. Various
other features such as data caching and security filtering are provided in accordance
with such a system.