RT Journal Article
T1 Simply the best – A systematic evaluation approach for third- party libraries based on mobile app quality attributes
A1 Saborido Infantes, Rubén
A1 Raes, Rémy
A1 Morales, Rodrigo
A1 Rouvoy, Romain
A1 Khomh, Foutse
A1 Guéhéneuc, Yann-Gaël
K1 Ingeniería del software
AB Mobile device applications (apps) are complex because they rely on integrating multiple third-party libraries (TPLs). Yet, TPLs ease app development by offering implementa- tions of specific functionality. For example, app developers often use advertising libraries to generate revenue, integrate social networking libraries to simplify login, or include crash reporting libraries to monitor/report crashes in their apps. However, there are mul- tiple TPLs with similar functionalities from which to choose, and developers often cannot foresee all the consequences of using these libraries in their apps. The sizes of apps grow with the addition and usage of TPLs, and so does the number of required permissions and resource consumption. Thus, TPLs may degrade the quality of apps and developers need help measuring and comparing them. We propose EQuAT, an approach for Evaluat- ing Quality Attributes of TPLs that eases the comparison of TPLs. EQuAT takes as input minimal apps that integrate TPLs and playable scenarios to simulate user interaction while exercising a particular functionality of the included TPL. By collecting quality metrics and comparing them using plots, we provide app developers with a systematic approach to rank TPLs based on their preferences. We show how EQuAT  helps developers make informed decisions about which libraries to integrate into their apps by validating them against nine TPLs across three categories.
PB Springer
YR 2026
FD 2026-05-08
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10630/46586
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10630/46586
LA eng
NO Saborido, R., Raes, R., Morales, R. et al. Simply the best – A systematic evaluation approach for third-party libraries based on mobile app quality attributes. Empir Software Eng 31, 137 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10664-026-10872-w
NO Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Málaga / CBUA.
DS RIUMA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Málaga
RD 24 may 2026