Noury Bourqadi is doing a talk on ubiquitous computing - i.e., Smalltalk on, or communicating with, various devices (small devices, mostly). The main thing - devices have become diversified and mobile (phones, PDAs, etc). Additionally, the type of wireless connection varies (WiFi, Bluetooth, etc).

Building software to deal with these devices and communications protocols is getting more and more complex, which delays product delivery. Goals? Help developers build for these environments. Some assumptions UbiquiTalk makes:

• Dynamic set of devices - devices can join/leave the network at any time
• Software may be added/removed/suppressed at any time
• Network may be Ethernet, WiFi, Bluetooth...
• Very heterogeneous hardware mix with varying specs

UbiquiTalk is middleware. It's a framework for domain objects and UI. It handles unanticipated remote interactions and heterogeneous hosts. A host can be anything with a network interface, and a service is anything that can be reached remotely. There are application services and middleware services.

For the middleware, you get a services registry, automatic host discovery remote communications, and on-demand deployment at runtime. On the framework side, there's code to handle and configure all of that stuff.

• Remote Communication: must be IP based
• Automatic Discovery: detects connect/disconnect
• Services Registry: White pages (name), Yellow pages (description)
• On demand deployment at runetime: (to do) - automated download and installation of services clients

Service Definitions:

• Application Entry Points
• Reactive or proactive
• 3 parts: provider, client (typically GUI), administration
• GUI: Targeting various devices

Thus far, there are two implementations: PCs (desktop/laptop), and PDAs.They are actively looking for partners, and there's a fair amount of future work to do. I didn't get the middle of this talk - jet lag caught up with me, and I fell asleep :/

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