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Write once run everywhere, version 2.0

ethan-evansIn 1996, according to the Wikipedia, Sun Microsystems promised, 

Java’s write-once-run-everywhere capability along with its easy accessibility have propelled the software and Internet communities to embrace it as the de facto standard for writing applications for complex networks

That was version 1.0. Version 2.0 of the write-once-run-everywhere promise goes to HTML5. There are four real challenges with pure HTML5 apps, though, especially on mobile devices:

  • The specification isn’t finished, and devices and browsers don’t always support the full draft spec.
  • Run-time performance can be slow, especially on older mobile devices – and HTML5 apps developers can’t always manage or predict client performance.
  • Network latency can adversely affect the user experience, especially compared to native apps.
  • HTML5 apps can’t always access native device features – and what they can access may depend on the client operating system, browser design and sandbox constraints.

What should you do about it? According to Ethan Evans, Director of App Developer Services at Amazon.com, the answer is to build hybrid apps that combine HTML5 with native code.

In his keynote address at AnDevCon earlier this month, Evans said that there are three essential elements to building hybrid apps. First, architecting the correct division between native code and HTML5 code. Second, make sure the native code is blinding fast. Third, make sure the HTML5/JavaScript is blinding fast.

Performance is the key to giving a good user experience, he said, with the goal that a native app and a hybrid apps should be indistinguishable. That’s not easy, especially on older devices with underpowered CPUs and GPUs, small amounts of memory, and of course, poor support for HTML5 in the stack.

“Old versions of Android live forever,” Evans said, along with old versions of Webkit. Hardware acceleration varies wildly, as does the browser’s use of hardware acceleration. A real problem is flinging – that is, rapidly trying to scroll data that’s being fed from the Internet. Native code can handle that well; HTML5 can fall flat.

Thus, Evans said, you need to go native. His heuristic is:

  • HTML5 is good for parts of the user experience that involve relatively low interactivity. For example, text and static display, video playback, showing basic online content, handling basic actions like payment portals.
  • HTML5 is less good when there is more user interactivity. For example, scrolling, complex physics that use native APIs, multiple concurrent sounds, sustained high frame rates, multi-touch or gesture recognition.
  • HTML5 is also a challenge when you need access to hardware features or other applications on the device, such as the camera, calendar or contacts.
  • Cross-platform HTML5 is difficult to optimize to different CPUs, GPUs, operating systems versions, or even to accommodate single-core vs. multi-core devices.
  • Native code, by contrast, is good at handling the performance issues, assuming that you can build and test on all the key platforms. That means that you’ll have to port.
  • With HTML5, code updates are handled on the server. When building native apps, code updates will require apps upgrades. That’s fast and easy on Android, but slow and hard on iOS due to Apple’s review process.
  • Building a good user interface is relatively easy using HTML5 and CSS, but is harder using native code. Testing that user interface is much harder with native code due to the variations you will encounter.

Bottom line, says Amazon’s Ethan Evans: HTML5 + CSS + JavaScript + Native = Good.

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When Big Data becomes Bad Data

The subject line in today’s email from United Airlines was friendly. “Alan, it’s been a while since your last trip from Austin.”

Friendly, yes. Effective? Not at all close.

Alan, you see, lives in northern California, not in central Texas. Alan rarely goes to Austin. Alan has never originated a round trip from Austin.

My most recent trip to Austin was from SFO to AUS on Feb. 13, 2011, returning on Feb. 15, 2011. The trip before that? In 2007.

Technically United is correct. It indeed has been a while since my last trip from Austin. Who cares? Why in the world would United News & Deals — the “from” name on that marketing email— think that I would be looking for discounted round-trip flights from Austin?

It is Big Data gone bad.

We see example of this all the time. A friend loves to post snarky screen shots of totally off-base Facebook ads, like the one that offered him ways to “meet big and beautiful women now,” or non-stop ads for luxury vehicles. For some reason, Lexus finds his demographic irresistible. However: My friend and his wife live in Manhattan. They don’t own or want a car.

Behavioral ad targeting relies upon Big Data techniques. Clearly, those techniques are not always effective, as the dating, car-sales and air travel messages demonstrate. There is both art and science to Big Data – gathering the vast quantities of data, processing it quickly and intelligently, and of course, using the information effectively to drive a business purpose like behavioral marketing.

Sometimes it works. Oops, sometimes it doesn’t. Being accurate isn’t the same as being useful.

Where to learn that art and science? Let me suggest Big Data TechCon. Three days, dozens of practical how-to classes that will teach you and your team how to get Big Data right. No, it’s not in Austin— it’s near Boston, from April 8-10, 2013. Hope to see you there— especially if you work for United Airlines or Lexus.

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Shaimot in the Genizah

This is one of a series of articles I wrote for the monthly Bulletin of Peninsula Temple Sholom in Burlingame, Calif.

Let’s explore four of the most commonly asked questions – usually posed in the parking lot on Sunday afternoons, which of course is where all the important Temple business is conducted…

What’s wrong with the dome over the Sanctuary?

“Alan – come look! There’s a problem with the roof!” Hardly a week goes by when a worried congregant doesn’t grab my arm in the parking lot and point out the ugly black blotches on the formerly all-white Sanctuary dome. In 1991 or so, the Temple installed a gravel roof onto the dome. Right from the beginning, there was a problem with the light-colored gravel washing off in the rain, revealing the dark undercoating.

Gary Fishtrom, who chairs the hard-working Temple Facilities Committee, explains that the problem is mainly cosmetic. The dome is structurally sound and the roof does not leak. Next spring, Gary says, the gravel roof is being replaced with an elastomeric composition roof embedded with tiny white granules to permanently retain the color. (To be specific, it’s Elastahyde #720ARC and #10 Fire White Granulate. The things you learn in shul business.)

The new dome surface will be environmentally friendly, as it will reflect the ultraviolet rays and heat of the sun during the summer months and retain the heat during the cold winter months. Best of all, no more white gravel to get washed away and no more unsightly black blotches.

When is Rabbi Feder’s contract up for renewal?

Rabbi Dan Feder’s current contract began July 2009 and ends June 2014. The contract says that the Board will vote on renewing the Rabbi’s contract in early 2013. That way, both the Rabbi and the Temple know what’s going on with plenty of advance notice, and can plan accordingly.

In January, we will publish the usual notice in the Bulletin seeking feedback from the congregation about Rabbi Feder. All feedback will be reviewed, in confidence, by the PTS Personnel Committee, which consists of Chair April Glatt; Scott Rodrick, Lauren Schlezinger; Michelle Tandowsky, and yours truly.

The Personnel Committee will make its recommendation to the Board of Trustees, and the Board will vote on Rabbi Feder’s renewal in the March Board meeting.

A more detailed description of the process – which is designed to be open, fair, and thorough – can be found in the Member’s Only section of our website, www.sholom.org/members.

Are the Temple finances healthy?

The state of our synagogue is strong. For fiscal year 2012- 2013, Peninsula Temple Sholom has a balanced budget and stable membership. Most years, we end up with a small budget surplus, which has allowed the Temple to make extra principal payments to chip away at the $1.3 million mortgage.

The mortgage is a remnant of the extensive renovation a decade ago, during which we extensively remodeled the Sanctuary and Social Hall, and of course tore down and completely rebuilt the Preschool/Religious School building, resulting in the beautiful Rabbi Gerald and Helen Raiskin Torah Center. Raise your hand if you remember High Holy Days at the San Mateo Event Center, or the year of Religious School in the portable classrooms!

In fiscal 2012-2013, the Preschool is essentially at capacity. Unfortunately, we enrolled fewer students in the Religious School than budgeted. Eran Vaisben, Director of Education, has offset the tuition revenue shortfall through careful expense management. Thanks to your generosity, and despite the difficult economy, we predict a balanced budget yet again.

Have you learned any interesting stuff about the Temple?

Lots! Let’s talk about the genizah and the Two Benches.

A genizah is a storage space or underground vault where damaged sacred documents, called shaimot, are buried. Shaimot are worn-out prayer books, fragments of old Torah scrolls, faded mezuzah parchments, and anything unwanted but containing the name of God – which by tradition, we don’t simply throw away, but place respectfully in a genizah.

The world’s most famous genizah is the Cairo Genizah, where more than 210,000 ancient shaimot were buried beginning around 1,200 years ago. It’s a treasure trove for historians and archaeologists. PTS’s genizah is much smaller. The original was located behind the Social Hall, but had to be moved during the renovation.

In 2006, PTS opened a new genizah on the Rivera Drive side of the school staff parking lot, with a large commemorative marker set in the ground. See if you can find it! Behind the marker are pressure-treated boards covering the genizah vault itself, where the shaimot are ritually buried and allowed to decompose.

Finally, poking around the PTS property a few weeks ago, I discovered a small unpaved walking trail that starts in the back parking lot off Arguello Drive. The trail starts up the slope away from the Temple, then turns to the right and heads toward the school building. On that trail are two small wooden benches perfect for meditation. I’ve been a member of PTS since the early 1990s, and had no idea that these existed.

You might find me sitting on one of those benches next time you visit PTS. Zikh gezetst, let’s sit together.