@INPROCEEDINGS{Belkhir19-MOBILESoft-RESTAPIAndroind,
   AUTHOR       = {Abdelkarim Belkhir and Manel Abdellatif and 
      Rafik Tighilt and Naouel Moha and Yann-Ga�l Gu�h�neuc and 
      �ric Beaudry},
   BOOKTITLE    = {Proceedings of the 6<sup>th</sup> International Conference on Mobile Software Engineering and Systems (MOBILESoft)},
   TITLE        = {An Observational Study on the State of REST API Uses in 
      Android Mobile Applications},
   YEAR         = {2019},
   OPTADDRESS   = {},
   OPTCROSSREF  = {},
   EDITOR       = {Denys Poshyvanyk and Ivano Malavolta},
   MONTH        = {May},
   NOTE         = {10 pages. \awardBest paper.},
   OPTNUMBER    = {},
   OPTORGANIZATION = {},
   PAGES        = {66--75},
   PUBLISHER    = {ACM Press},
   OPTSERIES    = {},
   OPTVOLUME    = {},
   KEYWORDS     = {Topic: <b>Program comprehension</b>, 
      Venue: <c>MOBILESoft</c>},
   URL          = {http://www.ptidej.net/publications/documents/MOBILESoft19.doc.pdf},
   PDF          = {http://www.ptidej.net/publications/documents/MOBILESoft19.ppt.pdf},
   ABSTRACT     = {REST is by far the most commonly-used style for 
      designing APIs, especially for mobile platforms. Indeed, REST APIs 
      are well suited for providing content to apps running on small 
      devices, like smart-phones and tablets. Several research works 
      studied REST APIs development practices for mobile apps. However, 
      little is known about how Android apps use/consume these APIs in 
      practice through HTTP client libraries. Consequently, we propose an 
      observational study on the state of the practice of REST APIs use in 
      Android mobile apps. We (1) build a catalogue of Android REST mobile 
      clients practices; (2) define each of these practices through a 
      number of heuristics based on their potential implementations in 
      Android apps, and (3) propose an automatic approach to detect these 
      practices. We analyze 1,595 REST mobile apps downloaded from the 
      Google Play Store and mine thousands of StackOverflow posts to study 
      REST APIs uses in Android apps. We observe that developers have 
      always used HttpURLConnection class for REST APIs implementation in 
      Android apps. However, since the apparition of REST third-party 
      libraries such as Okhttp, Retrofit and Google Volley, Android REST 
      clients have been increasingly relying on the facilities offered by 
      these libraries. Also, we observe that developers used to ignore some 
      good practices of REST APIs uses in Android apps. Such practices are 
      the use of HTTP third-party libraries, caching responses, timeout 
      management, and error handling. Moreover, we report that only two 
      good practices are widely considered by Android developers when 
      implementing their mobile apps. These practices are network 
      connectivity awareness and JSON vs. XML response parsing. We also 
      find that Retrofit is the most targeted third-party HTTP client 
      library by Android developers because of its ease of use and provided 
      features. Thus, we conclude that service providers must strive to 
      make their libraries as simple as possible while mobile-service 
      consumers should consider existing libraries to benefit from their 
      features, such as asynchronous requests, awareness to connectivity, 
      timeout management, and cached responses.}
}

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Indeed, REST APIs are well suited for providing content to apps running on small devices, like smart-phones and tablets. Several research works studied REST APIs development practices for mobile apps. However, little is known about how Android apps use/consume these APIs in practice through HTTP client libraries. Consequently, we propose an observational study on the state of the practice of REST APIs use in Android mobile apps. We (1) build a catalogue of Android REST mobile clients practices; (2) define each of these practices through a number of heuristics based on their potential implementations in Android apps, and (3) propose an automatic approach to detect these practices. We analyze 1,595 REST mobile apps downloaded from the Google Play Store and mine thousands of StackOverflow posts to study REST APIs uses in Android apps. We observe that developers have always used HttpURLConnection class for REST APIs implementation in Android apps. However, since the apparition of REST third-party libraries such as Okhttp, Retrofit and Google Volley, Android REST clients have been increasingly relying on the facilities offered by these libraries. Also, we observe that developers used to ignore some good practices of REST APIs uses in Android apps. Such practices are the use of HTTP third-party libraries, caching responses, timeout management, and error handling. Moreover, we report that only two good practices are widely considered by Android developers when implementing their mobile apps. These practices are network connectivity awareness and JSON vs. XML response parsing. We also find that Retrofit is the most targeted third-party HTTP client library by Android developers because of its ease of use and provided features. Thus, we conclude that service providers must strive to make their libraries as simple as possible while mobile-service consumers should consider existing libraries to benefit from their features, such as asynchronous requests, awareness to connectivity, timeout management, and cached responses.","bibtex":"@INPROCEEDINGS{Belkhir19-MOBILESoft-RESTAPIAndroind,\r\n AUTHOR = {Abdelkarim Belkhir and Manel Abdellatif and \r\n Rafik Tighilt and Naouel Moha and Yann-Ga�l Gu�h�neuc and \r\n �ric Beaudry},\r\n BOOKTITLE = {Proceedings of the 6^th International Conference on Mobile Software Engineering and Systems (MOBILESoft)},\r\n TITLE = {An Observational Study on the State of REST API Uses in \r\n Android Mobile Applications},\r\n YEAR = {2019},\r\n OPTADDRESS = {},\r\n OPTCROSSREF = {},\r\n EDITOR = {Denys Poshyvanyk and Ivano Malavolta},\r\n MONTH = {May},\r\n NOTE = {10 pages. \\awardBest paper.},\r\n OPTNUMBER = {},\r\n OPTORGANIZATION = {},\r\n PAGES = {66--75},\r\n PUBLISHER = {ACM Press},\r\n OPTSERIES = {},\r\n OPTVOLUME = {},\r\n KEYWORDS = {Topic: <b>Program comprehension</b>, \r\n Venue: <c>MOBILESoft</c>},\r\n URL = {http://www.ptidej.net/publications/documents/MOBILESoft19.doc.pdf},\r\n PDF = {http://www.ptidej.net/publications/documents/MOBILESoft19.ppt.pdf},\r\n ABSTRACT = {REST is by far the most commonly-used style for \r\n designing APIs, especially for mobile platforms. Indeed, REST APIs \r\n are well suited for providing content to apps running on small \r\n devices, like smart-phones and tablets. Several research works \r\n studied REST APIs development practices for mobile apps. However, \r\n little is known about how Android apps use/consume these APIs in \r\n practice through HTTP client libraries. Consequently, we propose an \r\n observational study on the state of the practice of REST APIs use in \r\n Android mobile apps. We (1) build a catalogue of Android REST mobile \r\n clients practices; (2) define each of these practices through a \r\n number of heuristics based on their potential implementations in \r\n Android apps, and (3) propose an automatic approach to detect these \r\n practices. We analyze 1,595 REST mobile apps downloaded from the \r\n Google Play Store and mine thousands of StackOverflow posts to study \r\n REST APIs uses in Android apps. We observe that developers have \r\n always used HttpURLConnection class for REST APIs implementation in \r\n Android apps. However, since the apparition of REST third-party \r\n libraries such as Okhttp, Retrofit and Google Volley, Android REST \r\n clients have been increasingly relying on the facilities offered by \r\n these libraries. Also, we observe that developers used to ignore some \r\n good practices of REST APIs uses in Android apps. Such practices are \r\n the use of HTTP third-party libraries, caching responses, timeout \r\n management, and error handling. Moreover, we report that only two \r\n good practices are widely considered by Android developers when \r\n implementing their mobile apps. These practices are network \r\n connectivity awareness and JSON vs. XML response parsing. We also \r\n find that Retrofit is the most targeted third-party HTTP client \r\n library by Android developers because of its ease of use and provided \r\n features. Thus, we conclude that service providers must strive to \r\n make their libraries as simple as possible while mobile-service \r\n consumers should consider existing libraries to benefit from their \r\n features, such as asynchronous requests, awareness to connectivity, \r\n timeout management, and cached responses.}\r\n}\r\n\r\n","author_short":["Belkhir, A.","Abdellatif, M.","Tighilt, R.","Moha, N.","Gu�h�neuc, Y.","Beaudry, �."],"editor_short":["Poshyvanyk, D.","Malavolta, I."],"key":"Belkhir19-MOBILESoft-RESTAPIAndroind","id":"Belkhir19-MOBILESoft-RESTAPIAndroind","bibbaseid":"belkhir-abdellatif-tighilt-moha-guhneuc-beaudry-anobservationalstudyonthestateofrestapiusesinandroidmobileapplications-2019","role":"author","urls":{"Paper":"http://www.ptidej.net/publications/documents/MOBILESoft19.doc.pdf"},"keyword":["Topic: <b>Program comprehension</b>","Venue: <c>MOBILESoft</c>"],"metadata":{"authorlinks":{}}},"bibtype":"inproceedings","biburl":"http://www.yann-gael.gueheneuc.net/Work/Publications/Biblio/complete-bibliography.bib","dataSources":["8vn5MSGYWB4fAx9Z4"],"keywords":["topic: <b>program comprehension</b>","venue: <c>mobilesoft</c>"],"search_terms":["observational","study","state","rest","api","uses","android","mobile","applications","belkhir","abdellatif","tighilt","moha","gu�h�neuc","beaudry"],"title":"An Observational Study on the State of REST API Uses in Android Mobile Applications","year":2019}