A Framework for the Evaluation of Mashup Tools

Mashup Programming is one of the latest trends in web application development. However, different sources still regard that mashup technology is in its infancy despite the mushroom growth of mashup-based applications and technologies. This calls for an in depth analysis of the support available to end users for mashup development. In this paper, we propose a multi-dimensional framework to evaluate existing mashup tools and platforms. The main idea behind this evaluation is to study the state of the art of mashup development from the end-user perspective and critically evaluate the efforts in this regard against a set of criteria to identify the research directions in this field. The idea of evaluation of mashup tools has been tackled through different approaches in past, however, in this research we attempt to synthesize additional concepts regarding mashup development and analyse this area against previously ignored factors, such as support for capturing users' requirements and users' goals. This study also includes platforms that have not yet been covered by previous evaluation studies. The framework presented in this study can be used as a guideline to inform future design of mashup development environments for both academic and industrial research. The results of the study reinforce the need of a more user-oriented approach to deal with the inherent issues of end-user mashup programming. The study concludes with the proposal of use of goals as a guiding mechanism to derive the mashup applications.