Browsing by Subject "Software development"
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Item Easing software development for pervasive computing environments(2009-12) Stovall, Andrew Erich; Julien, ChristineIn recent years pervasive computing has enjoyed an amazing growth in both research and commercial fields. Not only have the number of available techniques and tools expanded, but the number of actual deployments has been underwhelming. With this growth however, we are also experiencing a divergence of software interfaces, languages, and techniques. This leads to an understandably confusing landscape which needlessly burdens the development of applications. It is our sincere hope that through the use of specialized interfaces, languages, and tools, we can make pervasive computing environments more approachable and efficient to software developers and thereby increase the utility and value of pervasive computing applications. In this dissertation, we present a new method for creating and managing the long-term conversations between peers in pervasive computing environments. The Application Sessions Model formally describes these conversations and specifies techniques for managing them over their lifetimes. In addition to these descriptions, this dissertation presents a prototype implementation of the model and results from its use for realistic scenarios. To address the Application Sessions Model's unique needs for resource discovery in pervasive computing environments, we also present the Evolving Tuples Model. This model is also formally defined in this dissertation and practical examples are used to clarify its features. A prototype for both sensor hardware and software simulation of this model is described along with results characterizing the behavior of the model. The models, prototypes, and evaluations of both models presented here form the basis of a new and interesting line of research into support structures for pervasive computing application development.Item Open-source software development and user-centered design: a study of open-source practices and participants(Texas Tech University, 2006-08) Yeats, Dave; Dragga, Sam A.; Koerber, Amy; Carter, Joyce L.; Zdenek, SeanDespite its seemingly attractive adherence to user-centered design principles of participatory design and democratized technology, open-source software fails to effectively address the usability needs of typical software users. Instead, it embodies a system-centered design approach facilitated by the efforts of developer-users. Through a plurality of research methods including discourse analysis, rhetorical analysis, and primary research methods such as interviews and surveys, this study attempts to examine the representations of the "user" in the communication and development practices of open-source software developers.Item Patterns for reusable android development(2015-12) Hager, Kristina Denise; Aziz, Adnan; Julien, ChristineSoftware libraries, encapsulating functionality behind a clearly defined interface, are a key component of all modern software development. In Java and in other mature technologies, the development of a library is nearly as easy as and as standard as the development of an application. However, the Android development environment is not as oriented towards library development. As a result, much of the powerful and open source code Android developers have created and published is embedded within and highly coupled to its original application, so it cannot be re-used by other applications. Also, the Android library format has recently been enhanced to encapsulate Android application components extending the possibilities for an Android library to be more than what was essentially just a Java API. This gives the Android developer opportunities to create even more powerful libraries. However, in contrast to the Java API, the interfaces to these libraries are not well defined, not subject to automatic and comprehensive type checking, and not able to be documented in a standard way. Android and these more powerful libraries are a relatively new mobile technology. However, these shortcomings must be addressed for Android and its libraries to become mature technology and become as powerful as promised. After introducing the reader to select Android development concepts pertinent to this paper, I will present a brief case study of an existing Android library and application and cover lessons I learned there which motivated the work I present here. I subsequently review the tenets of library development, derived from the literature, from the perspective of Android. I created exam- ple libraries and applications using those libraries to illustrate best practices and key points on challenges in the Android ecosystem that hinder reusable development. A reader will also gain knowledge of how to create and publish his or her own library for use by others. Finally, I package the Android library I originally studied into a JAR file for the benefit of the wider development community.Item Providing intuitive museum guidance through asset-tracking and mobile applications(2010-12) Goertz, Maria Magdealena; Julien, Christine; Bias, RandolphThe tracking of artifacts in museums can be a cumbersome and error-prone process. A system that performs this tracking manually would help prevent mistakes and could be utilized to help attract and retain museum visitors. This thesis outlines the design and implementation of a three-part system for accomplishing this goal. By combining a powerful RFID infrastructure with a server and an intuitive mobile-device application, the project in this thesis aims to provide an automated way to keep track of artifacts, as well as to provide an application that makes the traversal of the museum intuitive and enjoyable for visitors. The application is built on Apple’s iOS platform in order to reach the multitude of users already in possession of iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touches. An initial evaluation shows the system behaves as expected and that it could be a useful tool to museums.Item What can the .NET RDBMS developer do? A brief survey of impedance mismatch solutions for the .NET developer(2009-12) Fiduk, Kenneth Walter, 1980-; Julien, Christine; Khurshid, SarfrazNearly all modern software applications, from the simplest website user account system to the most complex, enterprise-level, completely-integrated infrastructure, utilize some sort of backend data storage and business logic that interacts with the backend. The ubiquitous nature of this backend/business dichotomy makes sense as the need to both store and manipulate data can be traced as far back as the Turing Machine in Computer Science. The most commonly used technologies for these two aspects are Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMS) for backend and Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) for business logic. However, these two methodologies are not immediately compatible and the inherent differences between data represented in RDBMS and data represented in OOP are not trivial. Taking a .NET developer’s perspective, this report aims to explore the RDBMS/OO dichotomy and its inherent issues. Schema management theory and algebra are discussed to gain better perspective of the domain and a survey of existing solutions for the .NET environment is explored. Additionally, methods outside the mainstream are discussed. The advantages and disadvantages of each are weighed and presented to the reader to help aid in design implementations in the future.