Automating the TANDEM Design Method in End-User Programming Environments

Abstract

Mashups are newly envisaged applications, made up from local information sources and processes, Web services and other distributed resources, bound together technically in some way. Interactive Development Environments (IDE) used to build mashups are becoming more accessible to end-user programmers. Design methods that end-users may apply to a given problem addressed by a mashup, are much less prevalent. This paper describes an end-user-friendly design method called TANDEM and demonstrates the use of it in detail, by way of an example: the design of a mashup of services that solves the so-called movie-cinema problem. An implementation of the newly designed movie-cinema app is then built within the DigitalFriend, an end-user programmer IDE. Furthermore, a significant part of the TANDEM design method, is then automated within the development tool itself. This automation removes the most skilled task required by TANDEM of the end-user: the automation of the process of Data Normalization. The automation applies data normalization to the initial model of components and data sources that feed into the mashup. The presentation here relies on some understanding of Data Normalization, so a simple example is presented. After this demonstrated example of the method and the implementation, the paper discusses the applicability of a model achievable by end-users using TANDEM coupled with the automated normalization process built into the IDE, versus, using a top-down model by an experienced information analyst. In conclusion, the TANDEM method combined with the automation as demonstrated, does empower an end-user to a significant degree in achieving a workable mashup or distributed application. And furthermore, the TANDEM method does have broader applicability to designing a broad class of logic programs, complementing the use of collected patterns in logic programs.