blue / papers.hotmobile2015-maybe · Files

\begin{abstract}

One of the reasons programming mobile systems is so hard is the wide variety

of environments a typical app encounters at runtime. As a result, in many
cases only post-deployment user testing can determine the right algorithm to
use, the rate at which something should happen, or when an app should attempt
to conserve energy. Programmers should not be forced to make these choices at

development time. Unfortunately, languages leave no way for programmers to
express and structure uncertainty about runtime conditions, forcing them to

adopt ineffective or fragile ad-hoc solutions.

\sloppypar{We introduce a new approach based on \textit{structured uncertainty}

through a new language construct: the \texttt{maybe} statement.

\texttt{maybe} statements allow programmers to defer choices about app

behavior that cannot be made at development time, while providing enough

structure to allow a system to later adaptively choose from multiple
alternatives. Eliminating the uncertainty introduced by \texttt{maybe}

statements can be done in a large variety of ways: through simulation, split

testing, user configuration, temporal adaptation, or machine learning

techniques, depending on the type of adaptation appropriate for each

situation. Our paper motivates the \texttt{maybe} statement, presents its
syntax, and describes a complete system for testing and choosing from

\texttt{maybe} alternatives.}

\end{abstract}