Programming Interface for Retrieving Element Metadata in Object-Oriented Languages

A recent study developed a reference architecture that captured the main solutions used in this type of framework. However, the use of this model in various frameworks has shown that, due to a poor programming interface for retrieving metadata, there is still a certain amount of code repetition and difficulties in reading it. In this context, the aim of this research project is to define a programming interface for metadata retrieval, based on the common needs of frameworks. To this end, an analysis of existing frameworks will be carried out in order to identify the needs for this interface, and then the programming interface and a reference implementation will be developed through an iterative process and made available as free software.

The developed solution will be evaluated during the development of new frameworks based on metadata and with the refactoring of existing frameworks to incorporate its use. In addition, a controlled experiment will be carried out to monitor the construction of frameworks with and without the use of the proposed solution, comparing metrics related to software structure and development dynamics. As a result of this work, it is hoped that, through the development of a programming interface that assists in the use of good practices for reading metadata, the development process will be simplified, making it more accessible for less experienced programmers to use this technique.

Implementation of entire project can be found here: Code