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IntAirAct - A Framework Enabling Device Interaction Using REST

This is a completed project.

Motivation

The number of devices used in everyday and professional life is increasing daily. Currently most of the applications for these devices focus on a single user and, if necessary, use web technologies for collaboration. A server acts as the hub for the devices. For remote situations this architecture is sensible. But in local situations the devices should communicate directly with each other. This is more efficient and opens up the possibility for new usage scenarios: namely Device Interaction. These interactions can consist of basic sharing of information such as contacts or be more advanced using gestures and location data.

 

Goal

Our goal is to improve the user experience by enabling developers to use web technologies to build interacting applications for any modern device.

To Radically Improve

The unconventional premise of IntAirAct (i.e. use REST, JSON and HTTP in a local network, having HTTP servers on mobile devices) sets the tone for how we are to be open-minded about approaches that make a big impact. We are willing to invest extra consideration and work to find solutions of the “order-of-magnitude” rather than the “good enough” variety.

User Experience

The experience we want to optimize is the end user’s experience. We strongly prioritize features that can make the biggest difference to end users. Obviously, we want to make developers’ lives easier, too, but never at the expense of the user experience.

By Enabling Developers

IntAirAct is about enabling developers to do great things, not necessarily spoon-feeding them or putting them in a straightjacket. IntAirAct strives to be easy to use without sacrificing efficiency. We generally prioritize ensuring that the basics of IntAirAct work very well rather than adding dozens of features. It’s much better to provide a solid platform so that other great libraries can be built on top of IntAirAct rather than trying to be all things to all people out of the box.

Web Technologies

The web is everywhere. Many developers start by learning web oriented languages such as HTML, CSS and PHP. We want to utilize this existing knowledge and move it into the local domain. This makes the learning curve very steep. Steep as in you learn a lot very quickly.

Interacting Applications

We strongly believe that device interaction will play a big role in future application development and therefore we should start creating the basic frameworks for developers to use.

Any Modern Device

IntAirAct should be as portable as it can be so long as it doesn’t involve sacrificing user experience in any significant way.

 

Focus

The implementation is currently focused on iOS, OS X and C#.

 

Demo

 

 

Software

Framework for iOS and OS X