Simplifying the programming of intelligent environments
Seth Holloway · 2011
In the future, computers will be everywhere: carried by everyone and in-tegrated into the environment. The increased computation and communication capabilities will enable environments to react to occupants through automated decision-making. On the path to intelligent environments, there are a number of hard problems. First and foremost, devices (sensors and actuators) must be made more approachable for average users. This dissertation aims to make applications for these intelligent environments easier to develop, thereby increasing the adoption and prevalence of emerging sensing and actuation technologies. Existing approaches to application development for these pervasive computing networks require detailed knowledge of low-level programming languages and embedded hardware. These current approaches also require adoption of new tools and languages that are not user-friendly. Intelligent environments will not be commonplace until average peo-ple can not only set up the necessary hardware and software but can also tailor the embedded software to personalized applications. This dissertation endeavors to