Enhancing Interface Understandability as a Means for Better Discovery of Web Services

Abstract

Service-oriented architecture has greatly influenced web-based development. However, the dream of system integration and automatic service discovery has only been partially fulfilled. Discovery within poorly defined web services has raised several concerns about the visionary promise of service-oriented computing, most notably in terms of the ability to understand and assemble application functionality from loosely coupled services. Well-developed Web Service interfaces enable service consumers to choose and bind to valid and well-understood web service interfaces. The aim of this paper is to propose a new approach that allows the utilization of a large number of currently published web services that lack proper descriptions and that therefore are not considered during the traditional search and discovery process. The author develops a new metric for web service clarity to enhance quality control during the registration and operation phases. The results prove that using the proposed approach, the discovery process can be significantly enhanced.