research-article

Evaluating REST architectures-Approach, tooling and guidelines

Authors:

Paulo F. Pires,

Flávia C. Delicato,

Paulo MersonAuthors Info & Claims

Journal of Systems and Software, Volume 112, Issue C

Pages 156 - 180

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2015.09.039

Published: 01 February 2016 Publication History

Abstract

We propose a guide to aid architecture evaluation activities in REST-based systems.A proof-of-concept demonstrates how the guide can help architecture evaluations.Results from a survey demonstrate the suitability and utility of the proposed guide.A Web tool was developed to facilitate the usage of the evaluation guidelines. Architectural decisions determine the ability of the implemented system to satisfy functional and quality attribute requirements. The Representational State Transfer (REST) architectural style has been extensively used recently for integrating services and applications. Its adoption to build SOA-based distributed systems brings several benefits, but also poses new challenges and risks. Particularly important among those risks are failures to effectively address quality attribute requirements such as security, reliability, and performance. A proved efficient technique to identify and help mitigate those risks is the architecture evaluation. In this paper we propose an approach, tooling, and guidelines to aid architecture evaluation activities in REST-based systems. These guidelines can be systematically used along with evaluation methods to reason about design considerations and tradeoffs. To demonstrate how the guidelines can help architecture evaluators, we present a proof of concept describing how to use the guidelines in an ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method) evaluation. We also present the results of a survey conducted with industry specialists who have performed architecture evaluations in real world REST-based systems in order to gauge the suitability and utility of the proposed guidelines. Finally, the paper describes a Web tool developed to facilitate the use of the evaluation guidelines.

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Cited By

Sadi MYu E(2023)WEBAPIK: a body of structured knowledge on designing web APIsRequirements Engineering10.1007/s00766-023-00401-228:3(441-479)Online publication date: 14-Mar-2023
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Alulema DCriado JIribarne LFernández-García AAyala R(2020)A model-driven engineering approach for the service integration of IoT systemsCluster Computing10.1007/s10586-020-03150-x23:3(1937-1954)Online publication date: 1-Sep-2020
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cover image Journal of Systems and Software

Journal of Systems and Software Volume 112, Issue C

February 2016

199 pages

ISSN:0164-1212

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Copyright © Elsevier Inc.

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Elsevier Science Inc.

United States

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Published: 01 February 2016

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Cited By

Sadi MYu E(2023)WEBAPIK: a body of structured knowledge on designing web APIsRequirements Engineering10.1007/s00766-023-00401-228:3(441-479)Online publication date: 14-Mar-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s00766-023-00401-2
Alulema DCriado JIribarne LFernández-García AAyala R(2020)A model-driven engineering approach for the service integration of IoT systemsCluster Computing10.1007/s10586-020-03150-x23:3(1937-1954)Online publication date: 1-Sep-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s10586-020-03150-x
Fernández-García AIribarne LCorral ACriado JWang J(2018)A flexible data acquisition system for storing the interactions on mashup user interfacesComputer Standards & Interfaces10.1016/j.csi.2018.02.00259:C(10-34)Online publication date: 1-Aug-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.csi.2018.02.002
Gamez-Diaz AFernandez PRuiz-Cortes A(2017)SLA-Driven Governance for RESTful SystemsService-Oriented Computing – ICSOC 2017 Workshops10.1007/978-3-319-91764-1_30(352-356)Online publication date: 13-Nov-2017
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/978-3-319-91764-1_30

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