Mask–Mediator–Wrapper: A Revised Mediator–Wrapper Architecture for Heterogeneous Data Source Integration

• Published in: Applied sciences Vol. 13; no. 4; p. 2471
• Main Authors: Dončević, Juraj, Fertalj, Krešimir, Brčić, Mario, Krajna, Agneza
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01-02-2023
• Subjects: architectural quantitative analysis; Architecture; Case studies; Cost analysis; data integration; Data processing; Data sources; Integration; Knowledge management; mediator–wrapper; Metadata; Quantitative analysis; Software; software architecture
• ISSN: 2076-3417; 2076-3417
• DOI: 10.3390/app13042471

This paper deals with the mediator–wrapper architecture and observes it in more modern aspects by relating it to architectural quanta. It is an important architectural pattern that enables a more flexible and modular architecture in opposition to monolithic architectures for data source integration systems. This paper identifies certain realistic and concrete scenarios where the mediator–wrapper architecture underperforms. These issues are addressed with the extension of the architecture via the mask component type. The mask component is detailed so it can be reasoned about without prescribing a concrete programming language or paradigm but still providing a working principle. The benefits of the new mask–mediator–wrapper architecture are analytically proven in relevant scenarios. The proof includes a software shift–cost analysis whose results quantitatively show the improvement of the mask–mediator–wrapper architecture over other mediator–wrapper architecture settings. One of the applications of the new architecture is envisioned for modern data sources integration systems backing big data processing.