Exploiting reflection and metadata to build mobile computing middleware
Licia Capra, W. Emmerich, Cecilia Mascolo · 2001
Abstract. The increasing popularity of wireless devices, such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants, watches and the like, is enabling new classes of applica-tions that present challenging problems to designers. Applications have to be aware of, and adapt to, variations in the context of execution, such as fluctuating network bandwidth, decreasing battery power, changes in location or device capabilities, and so on. In this paper, we argue that middleware solutions for wired distributed systems cannot be used in a mobile setting, as the principle of transparency that has driven their design runs counter to the new degrees of awareness imposed by mobility. We propose a new middleware model, based on the principle of reflection and metadata as a means for middleware to give applications dynamic access to information about their execution context. Finally, we illustrate a first prototype we have developed which focuses on the problem of data replication and reconciliation in a mobile environment. 1