Andy King - Programming the Internet of Things

by Andy King

Copyright 2021 Andrew D. King. All rights reserved.

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The Internet of Things has the potential to become one of the most disruptive technological advances of our time. With more than 50 billion devices expected to come online over the next few years, the IoT will have a profound impact on every industry. Exciting new connected devices and supporting systems will be developed to solve problems in medicine, transportation, agriculture, housing, energy, manufacturing, and more. Many of these projects are already under way, and most companies are eager to expand their products and capabilities to leverage the IoT.

Built on advancements and cost reductions in sensing, metrology, microelectronics, wireless communications, cloud services, and the expansion of the World Wide Web, the Internet of Things is at the intersection of multiple technologies developed over the last few decades. While this breadth introduces several challenges, it also offers the opportunity to architect and develop software across traditional career boundaries. The IoT pushes practitioners outside of their comfort zones to explore the full spectrum of software engineering. In most cases, a solution touches all levels of the stack: starting with bare-metal code on constrained devices, then aggregated through more capable edge nodes before heading northbound to the cloud. This means the designer must have enough expertise at each level to understand the protocols, languages, patterns, and frameworks available to build a stable and scalable system.

In Programming the Internet of Things, Andy lays out a carefully crafted guide to building an end-to-end IoT system. By working step by step through the text and leveraging the thorough reference materials, you will implement a versatile testbed built on patterns and protocols used in real commercial IoT systems. I encourage you to invest in the optional hardware components. One of the most rewarding aspects of this field is the integration of software and the physical world. The simple act of controlling an LED from the cloud or capturing indoor environmental conditions will have you hooked on the IoT.

The organization of this book and its reference materials shows the significant practical experience Andy has, not only in the IoT, but also in software engineering and architecture overall. The steps are deliberately designed to follow the process of a real software engineering project, backed by the Kanban-style management system utilized by most software development teams. If you complete each exercise in combination with the supporting reference material, you will gain a better understanding of the IoTwith the bonus of familiarizing yourself with processes and best practices common across software development in general.

While Andy covers the IoT down to the implementation level, I think this book also provides valuable guidance for the technology leader. By working through the software architecture that is the core of most IoT systems, you will gain a better understanding of the complexities involved in their implementation. Each exercise contains valuable insights regarding the challenges, risks, and trade-offs involved in that segment of the system.

I strongly advise readers to pay close attention to the numerous callouts and references regarding security in the Internet of Things. As with any technology, the pressure to deliver a solution can often overshadow the need for robust security. Deficient security has already been the downfall of many IoT systems. As this technology becomes more prevalent, it will become part of many critical systems. It is vital that security becomes one of the first considerations in any IoT project; it should be continually revisited throughout the lifecycle of the solution.

Programming the Internet of Things provides a road map for developers of all skill levels to break into one of the fastest-growing fields in software engineering. I encourage you to work through this content carefully and think about how you could apply solutions based on similar principles to problems in your life. I look forward to seeing the projects created by the technologists who get inspired by this content and dive into building the IoT.

Tim Strunck

Director of Software Engineering

Atom Power

Charlotte, North Carolina

April 2021