Engineering Wireless Mobile Applications

Conventional desktop software applications are usually designed, built, and tested on a platform similar to the one on which they will be deployed and run. Wireless mobile application development, on the other hand, is more challenging because applications are developed on one platform (like UNIX or Windows) and deployed on a totally different platform like a cellular phone. While wireless applications can be much smaller than conventional desktop applications, developers should think in small terms of the devices on which the applications will run and the environment in which they will operate instead of the amount of code to be written. This paper presents a systematic approach to engineering wireless application and offers practical guidelines for testing them. What is unique about this approach is that it takes into account the special features of the new medium (mobile devices and wireless networks), the operational environment, and the multiplicity of user backgrounds; all of which pose new challenges to wireless application development.