A mash-up combines tools or data from multiple sources, often using XML-based output streams. AJAX programming is often used for efficient user experience. Yahoo Pipes allows users to create their own mash-ups, such as combining iTunes and YouTube playlists. The possibilities for mash-ups are endless.
A mash-up is a combination of tools or data from multiple sources. Mash-ups typically collect data from multiple web pages and bring their information into a streamlined web application.
Think of a mash-up as a consolidation of web application tools. For example, an online mapping service might have an interface that allows you to create a mash-up that positions traffic cameras for a location on a map. The mash-up possibilities are truly endless.
To create a mash-up, multiple input sources are needed and usually these inputs will have an XML-based output stream. This allows the mash-up to take these XML outputs as input and consolidate them together. Once the data streams have been combined (and/or manipulated), the mash-up will usually generate its own output, which shows a combination of the original inputs.
Many of the best-suited web applications for a mashup involve AJAX programming – a combination of JavaScript and XML markup – which allows the pages and data used for the mashup to change without the page refreshing, thus making the tool very efficient for ‘user.
An example of a mash-up would be to combine a mapping service like Google Maps® with microbreweries. This mash-up was created, and works well enough, to provide a map of breweries or beer shops within an area and directions to each.
Yahoo has taken the mash-up one step further with the introduction of a new service called Pipes. Yahoo Pipes allows a user to use XML markup and an Ajax-based interface to create their own pipes (or mash-ups). This service puts any number of mash-ups directly into the hands of those likely to use the new application. Once a pipe is created, it can be shared with others to allow for more widespread use. Pipes has been used to create many mash-ups, one of which is a web application for inserting a playlist from iTunes® with video from YouTube. This marriage of websites lets you create a mash-up of the top ten iTunes songs and top 10 most played YouTube videos. The application uses an XML feed from both sites to create the mash-up, allowing data from each application to change without requiring any changes to the mash-up web application.
Many other mash-ups have been created, combining the most popular services available on the Internet today. With new applications popping up all the time, there are no limits to the amount and variety of web applications that can be created.
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