Towards a programming model for context-aware applications

In mobile computing scenarios, users move in different environments and applications can automatically explore their surroundings. This type of context-aware application is an emerging trend, so far not widely disseminated. We believe that the proposal of a programming model specifically designed for the specification of context-aware applications, using general abstractions, will foster a rapidly widespread of such kind of software. In this article, we propose the use of the Holoparadigm (in short Holo) to fill this gap. We created a programming language based on Holo (called HoloL) to demonstrate the strengths of Holoparadigm to develop context-aware applications. The article uses a sample scenario to show the Holo's practical aspects related to implementation of context-aware applications. We also present a platform to HoloL (called HoloEnv), composed of a compiler, a virtual machine, and a distributed execution environment. Finally, different performance aspects of the HoloEnv's components were evaluated through experimental results.

► We propose a programming model for the specification of context-aware applications. ► The model uses general abstractions initially introduced by Holoparadigm (in short Holo). ► We created a programming language based on Holo (called HoloL). ► We use a sample scenario to show the Holo's practical aspects. ► We also propose a compiler and a distributed execution environment to the HoloL.