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Let's say, I have one or more web app I find interesting, and as I want to do something similar, I would like to know on which technology they are based (programming language, database, web server, framework, ...).

Is there any site where such information is centralized? If not, where should I look for this information?

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Send an email to the owner of the web app asking for the technology stack they use. – Raynos Oct 13 '11 at 9:40
Assuming the direct approach of asking the owner does not work there are other ways eg netcraft can tell you, probably, what the site is running by way of a server. Things like .asp, .pl and .php will tell you it is using active server pages, perl or php. Looking at the source will tell you if javascript/AJAX is being used etc. – adrianmcmenamin Oct 13 '11 at 10:49

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If it is a plugin based web app like an RIA (Rich Internet Application) then it is fairly easy to identify a Flash plugin, Silverlight plugin or Java applet.

Otherwise if you view page source you can often times get a number of helpful clues about what technologies are being used. Looking at script references can tell you things like:

  • ASP or ASP.NET

  • JQuery

  • YUI

  • Third-party ASP.NET controls (Eg. Infragistics, Telerik, etc..)

  • JSF and JSF2

  • Third party JSF controls (Eg. Richfaces, Primefaces, etc...)

  • Google API's

Sometimes even urls for various public web services like Amazon or Google.

You can gather an absurd amount of architecture clues just by View Source of a web page.

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There is no centralized place for such information. For some sites the technology stack is known and you can find it through google, for others you will have to find out on your own through hints such as headers in http messages and such.

Or you could just contact the admin and ask.

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