Turning Web Applications into Mashup Components: Issues, Models, and Solutions

摘要

Sometimes it looks like development for Web 2.0 is completely detached from the "traditional" world of web engineering. It is true that Web 2.0 introduced new and powerful instruments such as tags, micro formats, RESTful services, and light-weight programming models, which ease web development. However, it is also true that they didn't really substitute conventional practices such as component-based development and conceptual modeling.rnTraditional web engineering is still needed, especially when it comes to developing components for mashups, i.e., components such as web services or UI components that are meant to be combined, possibly by web users who are not skilled programmers. We argue that mashup components do not substantially differ from common web applications and that, hence, they might benefit from traditional web engineering methods and instruments. As a bridge toward Web 2.0, in this paper we show how, thanks to the adoption of suitable models and abstractions, generic web applications can comfortably be turned into mashup components.