Home // International Journal On Advances in Software, volume 17, numbers 1 and 2, 2024 // View article

External Representations of Semantically Rich Content in Complex Systems Using Loose Coupling

Authors:
Hans-Werner Sehring

Keywords: content model; data schema; schema mapping

Abstract:
Content-based software systems like websites and online shops are based on multiple components that collaborate in different ways while serving users. In recent years, the typical architecture of solutions centered around CMSs changed from monolithic to loosely coupled systems. Current approaches are called ``composable architecture'' or ``composable commerce'' because they focus on substitutability of components that provide a specific service. Data exchange between system components takes place in an external format that conforms to a system-wide agreed schema. Content Management Systems (CMSs) are one central component of a content-based system. CMSs manage and publish meaningful content. Such content is represented by data, but it is not processed under fixed semantics. However, collaborating systems require a consistent interpretation of data as content on both ends in order to preserve meaning. We argue that such a consistent interpretation requires mappings between the content models underlying CMSs and the data models that are used for communication, and that these mappings, therefore, must be shared by all components of the system. In order to justify this claim, we compare the expressiveness of plain data formats with that of content modeling languages, and we study mappings between them. In this paper, we use JSON and JSON Schema as typical examples of external data representations. We discuss content models using the example of the Minimalistic Meta Modeling Language (M³L). Our initial research shows that schemas for data exchange should be tightly linked to content models in order to not only represent content as data, but also to allow for consistent interpretations of content.

Pages: 23 to 32

Copyright: Copyright (c) to authors, 2024. Used with permission.

Publication date: June 30, 2024

Published in: journal

ISSN: 1942-2628