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Code-on-demand and code adaptation for mobile computing
Francis C.M. Lau, Nalini Belaramani, Vivien W.M. Kwan, Pauline P.L. Siu, Department of Computer Science, The University of Hong Kong
April 2005
ABSTRACT
For many years, software users have been paying for much more than they needed. This is because software developers have chosen to bundle all the possible functions in essentially a monolithic chunk of code. Many of these software packages turn out to be much too over-sized for a mobile device. We introduce Sparkle, a proof-of-concept, mobile middleware for code adaptation using the code-on-demand design paradigm. Mobile devices by their nature have limited resources. To allow as many useful applications as possible to run on a mobile device, we propose changing the software development paradigm from monolithic chunks to small functionalities which can be dynamically downloaded on demand to the mobile device, and disposable. This changes fundamentally the concept that an application has confined functionalities. Different functionalities may be downloaded based on the changing context which could be a function of device resources, the network connection, the environment, and the user’s preferences. A Sparkle-like environment and software development model in the future would benefit both the mobile users and the software vendors. |