In the past years we have seen a number of initiatives to bring JavaScript to Internet of Things devices. The idea seems great: one language for both device, server and the web application. But IoT devices are a different beast... They have to run for years on a battery, have rock-solid security and networking stacks built in, and there needs to be a story to go from development board to production. We have seen various approaches: from running node.js on an embedded Linux box, to cross-compiling JavaScript to Lua to machine code, to ripping out motherboards out of phones. None of them with much success.
If we want JavaScript on IoT devices we need to start thinking small. IoT devices generally run on microcontrollers. Tiny computers, with processing power measured in MHz and RAM measured in kilobytes. What they lack in processing power, they make up in power consumption - they can easily run for years on a coin cell - and in peripherals, some chips have over a hundred Input/Output ports to connect sensors, actuators and radios. And from there, we need to look at a library ecosystem that is already proven on microcontrollers... Well-tested middleware, that has both security and battery consumption as top priorities.
In this presentation I‘ll talk about microcontrollers, JavaScript, and tiny beacons; and will probably play with lasers through JavaScript.
Jan keeps following JSConf.Asia around. And we're glad he does! He is now working as Developer Evangelist IoT for ARM, and is always on the lookout on how to connect the web with the real world.
He loves doing unexpected stuff with sensors, flying drones from the browser, and breaking phones.
Before ARM he was a core contributor to Firefox OS, and he wrote hundreds of patches to various open source projects.
He's also a Google Developer Expert for Web technologies.
JSConf.Asia - Capitol Theatre, Singapore - 25+26 November 2016
Source: https://2016.jsconf.asia/
Slides: http://www.slideshare.net/janjongboom/run-your-javascript-app-for-years-on-a-coin-cell-jsconfasia-2016
License: For reuse of this video under a more permissive license please get in touch with us. The speakers retain the copyright for their performances.