conclusion.conclusion.tex

   1 This thesis introduces a novel system for adding \gls{IoT} functionality to
   2 the \gls{TOP} implementation \gls{iTasks}. A new view for the existing
   3 \gls{mTask}-\gls{EDSL} has been created which compiles the program
   4 into bytecode that can be interpreted by a client. Clients have
   5 been written for several microcontrollers and consumer architectures which can
   6 be connected through various means of communication such as serial port,
   7 wifi and wired network communication. The bytecode on the devices is
   8 interpreted using a stack machine and provides the programmer with interfaces
   9 to the peripherals. The semantics for \gls{mTask} try to resemble the
  10 \gls{iTasks} semantics as close as possible.
  11
  12 The host language has a proven efficient compiler and code generator. The
  13 compilation is linear in the amount of instructions generated and is therefore
  14 also scalable. Moreover, compiling \glspl{Task} is fast because it is nothing
  15 more than running some functions native to the host language and there is no
  16 intermediate \gls{AST}.
  17
  18 The dynamic nature of the client allows the microcontroller to be programmed
  19 once and used many times. The program memory of microcontrollers often
  20 guarantees around $10.000$ write or upload cycles and therefore existing
  21 techniques such as generating \gls{C} code are not suitable for dynamic
  22 \gls{Task} environments. The dynamic nature also allows the programmer to
  23 design fail-over mechanisms. When a device is assigned a \gls{Task} but another
  24 device suddenly becomes unusable, the \gls{iTasks} system can reassign a new
  25 \gls{mTask}-\gls{Task} to another device that is also suitable for running the
  26 \gls{Task} without needing to recompile the code. It also showed that adding
  27 peripherals is not a time consuming task and does not even requires
  28 recompilation of clients not having the peripheral.
  29
  30 The new functionality extends the reach of \gls{iTasks} by adding \gls{IoT}
  31 functionality and allowing devices to run \gls{mTask}-\glspl{Task}. With this
  32 extension, a programmer can create an entire \gls{IoT} system from one source
  33 that reaches all layers of the \gls{IoT} architecture. However, this does not
  34 limit the applications and makes them static. Components can be updated
  35 individually without causing integration problems. Devices can be repurposed
  36 just by sending new \glspl{Task} to it. Most importantly, it gives an insight
  37 in the possibilities of adding \gls{IoT} to \gls{TOP} programs.