Web-centred end-user component modelling

Resumen

This paper formally defines a web component model enabling end-user programmers to build
component-based rich internet applications (RIAs) that are tailored to meet their particular needs. It is
the product of a series of previously published papers. The formal definition in description logic verifies
that the model is consistent and subsumes currently existing models. We demonstrate experimentally
that it is more effective than the others.
Current tools propose very disparate web component models, which are based on the appropriate
invocation of service backends, overlooking user needs in order to exploit these services and resources in
a friendly manner. We have proposed a web model based on a detailed study of existing tools, their pros
and cons, limitations and key success factors that have enabled other web end-user development (WEUD)
solutions to help end-user programmers to build software to support their needs. In this paper we have
verified that the proposed model subsumes and is instantiated by the models of the other existing tools
that we analysed, coming a step closer to the standardization of end-user centred RIAs and development
environments. We have implemented a development tool, called EzWeb, to produce RIAs that implement
the proposed model. This tool enables users to develop their application following the model’s component
structure based on end-user programming success factors. We report a statistical experiment in which
users develop increasingly complex web software using the EzWeb tool generating RIAs that conform to
the proposed component model, and other WEUD tools generating RIAs that conform to other models.
This experiment confirms the applicability of the proposed model and demonstrates that more enduser
programmers (EUPs) (users concerned with programming primarily for personal rather public use)
successfully develop web solutions for complex problems using the EzWeb tool that implements the
model, which is more efficient than existing tools that implement other models.