A Programming Language and System for Heterogeneous Cloud of Things

Abstract

Cloud of Things (CoT) is a computing model that combines the widely popular cloud computing with Internet of Things (IoT). One of the major problems with CoT is the latency of accessing distant cloud resources from the devices, where the data is captured. To address this problem, paradigms such as fog computing and Cloudlets have been proposed to interpose another layer of computing between the clouds and devices. Such a three-layered cloud-fog-device computing architecture is touted as the most suitable approach for deploying many next generation ubiquitous computing applications. Programming applications to run on such a platform is quite challenging because disconnections between the different layers are bound to happen in a large-scale CoT system, where the devices can be mobile. This paper presents a programming language and system for a three-layered CoT system. We illustrate how our language and system addresses some of the key challenges in the three-layered CoT. A proof-of-concept prototype compiler and runtime have been implemented and several example applications are developed using it.