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fcmlau@csis.hku.hk. Content and Code Adaptation for Small-Device Computing. Francis C.M. Lau Department of Computer Science & Information Systems The University of Hong Kong PDCAT 2003 • Chengdu, China. Popular Computing. 70’s : one computer, many users 80’s : one computer, one user
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fcmlau@csis.hku.hk Content and Code Adaptation for Small-Device Computing Francis C.M. Lau Department of Computer Science & Information Systems The University of Hong Kong PDCAT 2003 • Chengdu, China
Popular Computing • 70’s: one computer, many users • 80’s: one computer, one user • 90’s: many (connected) computers, many users – distributed computing • 21st Century: many computers, one user • … many computers, connected and disconnected, one user, many users … – ubiquitous computing
My Future Handheld • All in one: phone, PDA, wallet, game console, remote terminal, ad-hoc networking … • That means a lot of software – big and fat!? • But what I really want is lean and thin and mean • Lean – simple software which does only what I want • Thin – that’s all the space in my pocket • Mean – affordable
Lean and Thin Computing • The (thin) client-server paradigm, works but in limited ways • Too thin: a browser-only device, a remote terminal … • Future devices are more powerful than just that
Rich Computing • The Internet as the big “hard disk” • Not just contents, but software come and go on demand • Pay-per-use subscription model • Browser plug-in’s and Java applets – not lean enough, and some require just too much resources • Software in terms of “functionalities”
Remember UNIX? • Small is beautiful • Make each program do one thing well • Choose portability over efficiency • Store data in flat ASCII files • Avoid captive user interfaces • Make every program a filter • …
UNIX Philosophy Applied • Small software components implementing single functionalities • Bigger functions runtime-composable from small components • Download on demand, and disposable • Standard formats and interfaces (eg. XML) • Shared GUI
Awareness and Adaptation • An intelligent supporting architecture • Aware of the come and go of mobile users • Choices of functions, depending on situation: the location, the device, the user, … • Fast reacting nearby proxy • Proxies united, within certain locality
The “Edge” is Getting Thicker • Person – device – middleware (proxies) – Internet • The abstract cloud moves with the client – personalized “cuddleware”, nomadic computing Internet proxies united metropolis client
Componentized Software • Executable code as puzzle pieces • Fast start, like contents • Software download pipelining – first-come-first-execute, the most needed functionalities first
Two HKU Projects • The Sparkle Project – “code adaptation” • PDF document content adaptation system – “content adaptation”