If you are interested in developing against the latest Internet of Things technologies, please consider joining us in the DevNet Zone at Cisco Live EMEA 2017 in Berlin from February 20-24, 2017.  We will have new content, workshops, and sessions for Cisco IOx that you should consider attending if you want to know more about applications at the network edge and get some hands-on experience with the new Fog Compute platform. With the Cisco IOx session Building Applications with IOx you can learn about IOx and how to build a simple application.  The Deploying IOx Applications DevNet workshop is a great place to get hands-on access and instruction on how to deploy and manage IOx applications on network edge devices.  Also consider joining our sessions like Introduction to Cisco IoT Tools for Developers. It will show you how IOx fits into the larger picture and give you a broader overview of Cisco's portfolio of IoT products with an eye towards the newest tools to help developers connect, secure, and manage data streams from devices to applications.  Beyond session content, we are still hard at work updating our developer documentation, creating additional source code examples, and useful learning content for release at Cisco Live. So visit the World of Solutions to see the many interesting use cases for Cisco IOx but come to the DevNet Zone at Cisco Live EMEA and attend a session or a workbench to learn how to actually use IOx!  If you can't make it to Germany, please consider trying our new Cisco IOx Learning Track that will be introduced in Berlin or reserve an IOx Sandbox at https://devnetsandbox.cisco.com to build your skills at using IOx and Fog Director for free, 24 hours a day, from wherever you are in the world. More Information Cisco IOx Developer Portal https://developer.cisco.com/site/iox Cisco DevNet Sandbox https://devnetsandbox.cisco.com Cisco Live EMEA 2017 Content Catalog Introduction to Cisco IoT Tools for Developers IoT 201 : Building Applications with IOx DevNet Workshop - IoT 203 : Deploying IOx Applications ... View more

Cisco IOx continues to expand its capabilities for Fog Computing with the 1.2 release.  For developers, this is an exciting release because one of the biggest features is the release of the Docker tooling support that allows developers to use a familiar approach to containerized deployment at the network edge.  In addition to the existing flexible packaging approaches of Platform-as-a-Service, Container, and KVM applications, Docker adds another way to move your code into the fog.  Many new improvements to Fog Director have also been built into this release.  Beyond the scaling and security improvements, Fog Director officially exposes its API that allows the developer to access and integrate most Fog Director functionality.  This is useful for tying your development workflow for IOx into a continuous integration process, building custom tooling, or integrating into other services you may need to utilize. Let's look a little closer at what is new in Cisco IOx 1.2. What is New? Docker Tooling Support Even though Docker Engine does not run on the IOx host, the new tooling allows IOx developers to quickly package a Docker image into an IOx-compatible application package.  This means that you can take your existing Docker Repository instructions and, with some limitations, build a deployable application package for IOx. Changes to ioxclient for Docker Support To enable the Docker Tooling Support, the ioxclient has gained a new trick.  To package up an application using the Docker tooling, a new ioxclient sub-command docker has been added.  The normal ioxclient package command to package an application can been used with the docker command like this: ioxclient docker package my-repository/my-image:latest /path/to/my/project This command will allow a developer to package an existing Docker image as an IOx application.  It combines an existing Docker image with the required package.yaml configuration in the project directory to package an IOx application. Changes to Fog Director for Docker Support Integrated into Fog Director in 1.2 is the ability to deploy an application as a Repository directly from a Docker Hub.  The new ability to add directly from a Docker image is presented when importing an application. This is another great way to build a flexible an automated way of delivering applications at scale. Fog Director Cisco Fog Director, the interface for managing large numbers of IOx devices, has received many notable improvements in this release.  For example, scaling improvements to Fog Director have bumped up the management support for 5000 concurrent devices.  Additional security enhancements around RADIUS authenticated logging and VNC passwords was also included.  Management improvements allowing action plans for failed application actions like life cycle changes was also included.  Support for managing the registration/deregistration of Cisco device with the GE Predix Cloud has also been added via an extension. For developers, a really interesting feature addition is the REST API for Fog Director.  This API lets developers manage the application life cycle of Cisco IOx applications programmatically.  Installing, managing, tagging, searching, and monitoring applications across thousands of devices is available via a common REST API endpoint.  Here is a sample of some of the endpoints exposed by Fog Director: api/v1/appmgr/devices api/v1/appmgr/myapps api/v1/appmgr/policy api/v1/appmgr/tags api/v1/appmgr/users ... To access the documentation on your Fog Director instance, browse to https://YOUR_FOG_DIRECTOR_IP/swaggerui/ on that instance.  A full description of the API, its uses, and how to use it can be found at https://developer.cisco.com/site/iox/documents/developer-guide. Platforms In addition to the functional changes provided by IOx 1.2, the number of supported devices is increasing.  Support for LXC applications on the Cisco Industrial Ethernet 4000 Series Switch is a great new addition for the industrial IoT uses cases.  Additionally, support for the Cisco UCS C220 platform is in Alpha, so expect to see it officially supported soon. Beyond the Docker, Field Director, and platform features, many other smaller improvements and features have been added.  You can try out these new changes in the DevNet Sandbox now and we encourage you to learn more from the links below. More Information Cisco IOx 1.2 Release Notes http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/routers/access/800/software/guides/iox/release-notes/iox120rn.html Cisco IOx Developer Portal https://developer.cisco.com/site/iox Cisco IOx Downloads https://developer.cisco.com/site/iox/downloads Cisco DevNet Sandbox https://devnetsandbox.cisco.com ... View more

Thanks to the work of the IOx engineering team and the DevNet Sandbox team, Cisco Fog Director is now available in the DevNet Sandbox.  The IOx lab was updated to include a second IOx-enabled device instance and a separate third instance to run Fog Director.  With this Sandbox lab, a developer can get experience with accessing the Fog Director APIs and deploying/managing fog applications on IOx-enabled devices . When you now login to the IOx Sandbox lab, it looks like the following: In addition to showing off the capabilities of Fog Director, it was important to create a realistic environment for developers to not only create but deploy their applications. This is because, in reality, a typical fog deployment is not likely to have a sole application. In fact, a fog deployment is likely to have tens, hundreds or even thousands of applications deployed across an environment. Knowing how a developer can utilize the deployment process, manage the application life-cycle, and test applications that use the configuration values as part of their deployment are core skills for IOx development. For testing, the IOx Sandbox makes it trivial to deploy and test multiple applications against two separate devices.  If you still just need a single instance for testing - it works the same as before. Finally, a new bit of sample code has been added to the iox-app-template repository on the Cisco DevNet GitHub page. Located at https://github.com/CiscoDevNet/iox-app-template/tree/master/paas-python-config, the paas-python-config project is a simple Platform-as-a-Service application showing how a developer might customize a configuration during deployment from Fog Director. This is inherently useful for deploying the same code with variables or other information passed in when the application is actually deployed. If you are interested in edge computing and want to see the latest work from Cisco on how applications are managed in the fog, I encourage you to visit the Sandbox Remote Labs via https://developer.cisco.com/site/devnet/sandbox/ and reserve a free IOx instance for yourself.  From there, visit the DevNet portal for IOx at https://developer.cisco.com/site/iox/ for an overview, documentation, and other useful pointers. Kudos to the IOx engineering and DevNet Sandbox support teams for making this happen. About Cisco Fog Director Cisco Fog Director delivers the capability to manage large-scale production deployments of IOx-enabled fog applications. Control the IOx application life-cycle from initial deployment through ongoing change management and application retirement. Choose to use the product functionality through a visual web environment or integrate with existing management systems through APIs. Fog Director supports both application-centric and network infrastructure-centric views to optimize productivity. http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/cloud-systems-management/fog-director/index.html About the Cisco DevNet Sandbox The Cisco DevNet Sandbox provides free hosted labs for integrating and working with Cisco Technologies. The developer-focused labs offer dedicated hardware for use in testing, evaluation, testing, and building proof of concept projects in areas like Networking, Collaboration, IoT, Cloud, Security, Data Center, Analytics and Automation. https://developer.cisco.com/site/devnet/sandbox/ ... View more

                As adoption in technology areas such as Software Defined Networking, Analytics, Cloud, and the Internet of Things continue to move forward, Cisco and Intel have joined together in several related fields to deliver services and solutions that help developers to innovate.  While Cisco and Intel have products and services for many different markets or verticals, massive infrastructure technology areas like the Internet of Things are inherently too large for a single company to address.  Therefore, companies need to work together to tackle the next generation of problems in delivery, security, and scale.  Cisco and Intel are a good example of how companies that have overlap in their respective business areas can work together to give developers next generation products and solutions to both expand their ideas and to make those ideas a reality. Cisco is committed to innovation [i] .  In fact, there is a culture of innovation within Cisco that has spawned to several programs and direct engagements that seek to partner directly with developers around the world.  A first example of this is the Cisco Innovation Centers.   The Cisco Innovation Centers around the world encourage innovators in their region by locally showcasing the latest technologies from Cisco and solution partners.  The Cisco Innovation Centers also support the Innovation Grand Challenge.  In this competition, Cisco invests in startups who want to rapidly prototype, build, and deliver the next digital transformation.  Moreover, Cisco empowers development of innovative ideas through Cisco’s Entrepreneurs in Residence program that fosters relationships between Cisco, startups and customers.  Finally, innovation can come from anywhere.  We in DevNet understand this so we have launched DevNet Creations to highlight the innovative work from within Cisco, our partners, and beyond. Beyond Cisco’s contributions to innovation, the joint work between Cisco and Intel plays to the strengths of each company and provides powerful new technologies and opportunities for innovation.  From Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) backend servers using Intel Xeon® processors to Fog-enabled Industrial Routers (IR) using Intel Atom® processors at the network edge, Cisco and Intel have been working together to drive new capabilities across the network.  These areas of cooperation include Networking, Cloud, and the Internet of Things. Innovative applications across the internet will continue to demand more from networks across the globe.  An example of where Cisco and Intel are partnering to help implement the future of network infrastructure is the next-generation mobile 5G service [ii] . These types of core network improvements are not only important for service providers but for the developers who want to bring pioneering, data-dense, media-rich content to more systems, devices, and people around the world.  Additionally, there is a continuing drive for both companies to build flexibility into the network layer with shared work around improving Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) through commitments to technologies like OpenDaylight [iii] . As a technology stack sitting on top of the network, Cisco and Intel also have a partnership around OpenStack to drive open standards and development around private, hybrid, and public Cloud services.  Cisco is a leading proponent of OpenStack [iv] and sees it as a path for developers of any size to take control of their own Cloud service needs and implementation.  Even within the Cloud, both companies see value in using their strengths to improve technology areas such as distributed data processing.  In a particular example, Apache Hadoop clusters run better with specialized Intel software running on the Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) [v] .  Getting more performance from the hardware to make more out of the data.  Beyond OpenDaylight and OpenStack, both Cisco and Intel are committed to Open Standards and Open Source and sit on several bodies that help to shape the future of computing and networking technology.  Both companies are members of the Internet of Things standards groups the OpenConnectivity Foundation and the Industrial Internet Consortium and play an important role in getting to consensus to allow the Internet of Things ecosystem to flourish. Data is not only important to the Cloud; it is also important in the Fog.  In the Internet of Things, the ability to distribute the workload of data collection and processing across a network and allow computation closer IoT devices is crucial.  This concept is referred to as Fog computing.  For Cisco, an essential element for leveraging the Fog is provided by Cisco IOx and its ability to run applications within the network infrastructure.  In specific products, such as the CGR1000-series and IR800 series, Cisco IOx permits the capability to not only do secure routing and switching at the edge of the network but run applications as well.  In the Integrated Router IR829, Cisco and Intel have worked together to enable compute at the edge by unlocking both cores of the Atom® dual-core processor to allow for increased functionality of the device and enable application development at the network edge. Working together, Cisco and Intel are delivering tools and platforms that developers can use to create disruptive solutions from one end of the network to the other.  To see some of these tools and technologies first hand, please come visit us at the Intel Developer Forum 2016 in San Francisco from August 16 th – 18 th .  Stop by our booth, say hello, and bring any of your questions about Cisco’s innovative technologies and developer experience.  For more information on Cisco innovation, please consider visiting the innovation blog at http://blogs.cisco.com/innovation. [i] https://hbr.org/2016/06/how-we-think-about-innovation-at-cisco [ii] https://newsroom.cisco.com/press-release-content?type=webcontent&articleId=1748243 [iii] http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/communications/cisco-nfv-partnership-paper.html [iv] http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/data-center-virtualization/openstack-at-cisco/index.html [v] http://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en_us/partners/ecosystem/marketplace/documents/intel-hadoop-partner-summary.pdf , http://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/solutions/collateral/data-center-virtualization/big-data/cloudera-intel-cisco-hadoop-benchmark.pdf ... View more

In Las Vegas, Nevada at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center on the weekend of July 9 th -10 th , Cisco DevNet held a hackathon with a special theme around Corporate Social Responsibility’s initiative Connected Bees.  Using IoT and Collaboration technologies to engage in close monitoring of the bees, the hackers were challenged to look for innovative ways to improve the understanding and information available of the bee ecology. To accomplish this, the hackers were provided Cisco technologies of Meraki, Spark, Tropo, Zeus, and Shipped. Relayr graciously provided IoT devices and the know-how for even those new to connecting devices the ability to gather sensor data.  Data 61 from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) based out of Australia provided a wealth of bee data to jumpstart the hackers in their research and implementation. The judges were amazed with the quantity and quality of the submissions for this 24-hour hackathon.  From Saturday at 10a until Sunday at 10a the hackers worked diligently through the night creating solutions that were evaluated for their problem being solved, creativity and innovation, impact and market potential, and technical achievement.  At the end of the event, everyone gathered, the judges deliberated, and ultimately the awards were handed out. The 3 rd Place team was Bee Keeper and they created a platform using Tropo and Relayr that connects scientists and hobbyists and provides shared and centralized data gathering, analysis, monitoring, alerting, and collaboration around comprehensive beehive data.  Their goal of connecting scientists to solve bee Colony Collapse Disorder impressed the judges.  BeeTRI was the 2 nd place team and they not only won second place, but they also brought home the Data 61 special prize for use of the provided Data 61 data set.  Their solution used Relayr IoT sensors to detect disturbances and irregularities of the bee hive and automatically notify the responsible bee keeper via Spark and Tropo. The winning team was Plan Bee .  Interestingly, the Plan Bee team used thermal cameras to measure hive activity and sound detection on Raspberry PIs to locate bees in the field.  They also utilized Cisco Spark as a platform to globally connect farmers and researchers and the other technologies in the hackathon to support their infrastructure. A lot of awareness and important technical ideas came out of the event and we in DevNet want to give a huge thank you to the hackathon attendees, our supporting Cisco engineering teams, our hackathon partners Relayr and Data 61, and BeMyApp our logistics support team!  Without all of you, we wouldn’t have been able to do so much in so little time. Thank you! If you are interested, you can review the hackathon event site at http://hackathon.cisco.com/event/hackathon-LasVegas-2016 and all the completed projects at https://devnethackathonlv.bemyapp.com/#/projects ... View more

Hosted by Cisco, the Internet of Things World Forum (IoTWF) is the premier leadership forum in the rapidly growing industries around the Internet of Things (IoT).  It is a must-attend event for key stakeholders and innovators who are driving IoT adoption worldwide.  This year, the IoTWF 2015 was held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where technology is transforming the city into a global hub and a leading example of what a Smart City can be.  Also, as the site of the 2020 World Expo, Dubai is not only an important partner in the emerging IoT landscape but a contributor to the future of a connected world.  At this year's Internet of Things World Forum, the industry’s leaders in public sector, private business and education will gather again to collaborate, network, partner, and build the IoT ecosystem together. To help make real moves towards that future, on December 4th, 2015 through the night to the 5th, students and professionals joined DevNet for a hackathon at the Cisco offices in Dubai.  The Cisco DevNet technical team provided 5 technologies for the hackers to use.  These included Enterprise IoT DevKit (EIoT) for connecting sensors to the network, Cisco Mobility Experiences (CMX) for location information, Cisco Instant Connect (CIC) for push-to-talk communications, and IOx/Data in Motion (DMo) for IoT analysis at the network edge.  Given this combination of products, the hackers were challenged to come up with solutions that incorporated Cisco technologies into enabling Dubai as a Smart City and improving the lives of its citizens.  At the end, 90 attendees presented 18 IoT-related demos in various domains to our judges: Our judges included Fadi Atallah Fatallah from Cisco Consulting Services, Sathish Jeyakumar from the Emirates Group IT, Aman Merchant from Impact Hub Dubai, and Husain Misherghi from Truecaller.  They graciously evaluated all the demonstrations and came up with a final list of winners. In 3rd Place, Shelfmetrics presented a solution using CMX to generate business intelligence that measures and monitors shelf or stock information of products.  For example, when a retail item, such as milk, is stocked or sold to a customer it can be tracked all the way back to the supplier. In 2nd Place, Saedni, demonstrated an IoT wearable device that diagnosed your heath by visualizing the patterns of ECG signals and temperature details of the wearer.  This is an important consideration for the safety and health of the population of a smart city. The 1st Place winner was SmartX, an airport application that improves the transit experience using CMX to extend the information available to embarking and disembarking passengers.  From the seat to the gate to a connecting flight, a passenger could feel more informed in real-time using their physical location in coordination with other sources of relevant information like their passenger name record (PNR), duty-free offers, or loyalty program. A lot of learning, work, and fun was condensed into a few hours.  We would like to thank all of our sponsors, the staff who made it happen, and most importantly the hackers who came and dedicated their time and energy to hacking with us through the night. Thank you! ... View more

From November 2 nd through the evening until November 3 rd , 2015 a collection of teams competed in a 24 hour continuous DevNet Hackathon at Cisco Live: Latin America in Cancun, Mexico.  Several Cisco IoT, Cloud, and Collaboration technologies were available for them to build new prototypes and explore game-changing concepts.  The participants rose to the challenge and created some truly inspiring solutions. The competition spawned a number of very interesting projects that used Cisco technologies from: Data in Motion (DMo) - Data management and analysis at the edge. https://developer.cisco.com/site/data-in-motion/ Tropo - A cloud-based collaboration API to automate the phone network.  http://www.tropo.com Enterprise IoT (EIoT) - A USB-to-Ethernet Adapter for turning your wired network into an infrastructure for the Internet of Things.  https://developer.cisco.com/site/eiot/ NeXt Framework - A HTML5/JavaScript based toolkit for network web application visualization.  https://developer.cisco.com/site/neXt/ Project Shipped - A new way to build, deploy, and run your code. https://developer.cisco.com/shipped Mantl – An end-to-end microservices infrastructure solution. http://mantl.io For example, the project team Eva-d used a sensor-equipped drone to take temperature, gas, and heat measurements to evaluate the risks in an area after a natural disaster and subsequently alert the local population using Cisco Tropo via the phone network. Another project was Pet-o-Matic.  This was a smart device for identifying and feeding pets using sensors to detect the presence of a pet and also using recognition technology to identify a specific pet with potentially custom feeding needs and access to food based on their diet.  All of this would be tracked through the pet owner’s mobile application.  Additionally, the hackathon was visited by Victor Lagunes, CIO of the office of the President of Mexico, who was impressed with the projects and showed interest in supporting their continued development. For the official judging process, there were four esteemed judges: Dr. Arturo García, Innovation Director at Intel Mexico Rigoberto Sáenz, New Technologies Director at BBVA Bancomer Armando González, Engineering Director at Dimension Data Juan Carlos Galván, Security and Cloud Solutions Manager at Ikusi From their deliberation, they decided that the second place team was Kool Plant.  This project involved a smart greenhouse that sensed light, temperature, and humidity to automatically trigger actions like watering the plants, feeding them, or controlling fans to adjust their temperature/humidity.  Sensors connected to the controlling application used EIoT and Cisco IOx technology.  Kool Plant took home the $1500 prize for second place. And finally, the first place team was Thundercats with their project Facility Manager.  This team created an automated management system to monitor supplies and trash receptacles for venues such as convention centers, schools, hotels, and others. During the short 24 hours available, the team even developed sensor-enabled towel dispensers and trash cans using EIoT technology that were connected to the cloud and triggered notifications when they needed to be replenished or cleaned. The notifications were sent by SMS and phone using Cisco Tropo technology and all of this was presented using a dashboard wired together with the Cisco NextUI visualization library.  Congratulations to Thundercats who won $3000 for placing first. Beyond the winners, we would like to thank all of the participants in the event.  It was an excellent way to learn something new and great fun. If you are interested in more details, please visit http://devnethackathonlatam.com for details on this event and to keep updated with future events, please visit http://hackathon.cisco.com . ... View more

HackZurich ( http://hackzurich.com/) took place in Zurich, Switzerland from October 2-4th.  It is advertised as the Biggest European Hackathon and it certainly seems like it considering there were over 500 hackers in attendance for the event with 123 submitted projects at the end of the competition.  Additionally, they released some other interesting trivia about the hackathon.  During the 40 hour event: 6000 m of ethernet cable was laid 2.18 TB of internet traffic was generated 1200 kWh energy was consumed 3.6 tons of food was provided (with 213 m² of pizza alone) 272 g of caffeine was provided (which is enough in quantity to kill 27 people!) For Cisco, we brought technology and mentors to support several technologies: Tropo - A cloud-based collaboration API to automate the phone network.  http://www.tropo.com Enterprise IoT - A USB-to-Ethernet Adapter for turning your wired network into an infrastructure for the Internet of Things.  https://developer.cisco.com/site/eiot/ NextUI Toolkit - A HTML5/JavaScript based toolkit for network web application visualization.  https://developer.cisco.com/site/NeXt-test/ OpenDaylight - An open platform for Software Defined Networking (SDN). https://www.opendaylight.org/ There were several projects that used Cisco technologies but I would like to highlight a few. One project, called “SplitBox.me" is a live web-service at https://splitbox.me/ that splits content across multiple cloud services and uses a one-time pad to securely encrypt the content with no one service holding enough information to decrypt the stored content.  It used Cisco Tropo in a novel way to allow for 2-factor authentication when decrypting the content on the client-side.  When unlocking a transmitted piece of content (via URI) the end-user also receives a code via SMS that is required to decrypt the content. Another project was “sencis.co".  The system provided by sencis.co used Cisco EIoT to monitor the light, temperature, sound, and motion of a room or suite of rooms. The system was designed to work in conjunction with IBM BlueMix to store not just real-time data but historical data as well. senscis.co collected live data from the Cisco EIoT device and the multiple connected sensors and pulled that data into a backend IBM BlueMix which acted as a data store for a nice set of visualizations of the real-time and historical data. The solution itself is interesting for many different verticals and makes a lot of sense for office environments to track environment not just the current environmental data but data over time for things like compliance or OSHA-style reporting of workplace human factors like temperature and natural light.  Other locations, such as public spaces or hospitals were considered as use cases because of their inherent need to track variable environmental data in detail for health, safety, and efficiency. The last project I will mention was the winner of our Cisco Workshop Prize.  The project, “Get Uppa” was a play on using the system to encourage activity in the participating audience.  The modular infrastructure was constructed using Azure Cloud with NodeJS instances to control the Cisco Tropo and Microsoft Kinect.  The prime use case was for enabling a different type of audience than the hyper-connected youth.  A particular target of this system was the elderly and enabling them to participate and communicate with the Internet of Things.  For example, at a specified time during the day, a user would receive a call to wake them up and get them moving.  The frequency and content of these calls could be controlled from the  “Get Uppa” cloud-based HTML user interface.  The conversation that ensued from a configured call could control and encourage physical and emotional well-being.  During the demonstration, an example call was placed to the user to get them up and would ask them if they would like to have the coffee machine make them a cup of coffee.  The conversation would also offer to tell the called user a joke or read them the news, contributing to their well-being and engagement with the system.  The system could also be set to ask the called user to get up and get active by tying an inbound call to required physical activity monitored by the Microsoft Kinect system.  Effectively, this ties the alerting and communication system to a real-world expectation of activity to close the loop on the use case.  Other ideas that didn’t make the time cut were to use the system to foster communication between members of the system, like family members, to leave personalized audio notes and encouragements.  What grandparent wouldn’t love a daily voice message from their grandchild? Overall, the quality of the projects was amazing given the limited duration of the event and the dedication and excitement of the hacking participants was fun to be a part of.  If you are interested in more details, please visit http://hackzurich.com/ for details on this event and a look forward to future events. ... View more

There are a few topics I would like to make sure we all have in mind when writing sample code: Scope, Function, Clarity, and Style. Scope Don’t do more than the developer can handle. Code samples can range from Basic to Advanced.  A simple, basic sample shows a single concept clearly and directly.  For example, it might be a one line code snippet that shows an example of making a method call.  A complex, advanced sample shows multiple modules, assets, concepts, and the communications between them all at the same time.  An example of this might be an entire application sample with assets and hundreds or even thousands of lines of code.  Obviously there is a wide range between simple and complex that our code samples can fulfill.  Small inline code samples are often found in the developer documentation itself whereas medium-to-large samples come bundled separately as a unit or as part of a Software Development Kit.  When writing a sample, decide early on what the scope is for your sample. Understanding the scope is important because it impacts the audience that can consume it.  Put yourself in their shoes.  Do I have the skills needed to execute on this?  How much time will it take to understand how to use this sample code?  What should I learn from this?  A healthy collection of sample code will have samples from all ranges from basic to intermediate to advanced with code sample collections to match.  Simple code gives them basic understanding of how a method might be called where an intermediate sample could introduce the method call in larger functions or more situations of common usage.  A complex example might show how the method is called or modified against common patterns or in more advanced situations that are likely to come up like polymorphism, threaded execution, or dealing with exceptions and failures. Before you even begin to write the code, have some bearing to your own levels of “Basic” to “Advanced” – it will be undoubtedly different from your audience.  Be as clear about the scope of the sample and run it by others to gauge the complexity. Function Make sample code functional. Answer these key questions about function before writing the sample code: What does the code sample do? How does it do it?  What does it need to work?  How do I show that to someone? To maximize our spread, we should be very aware of what functionality we are exposing through sample code.  In some respects, it is similar to code coverage.  What base of functional code are we exposing through code samples?  To understand that, we need to understand the function the sample code is serving. Since technology function is often “the thing” developers are really searching for in sample code, it is important to make it clear what the code does and does not do and what it takes from the developer to be successful.  As an example, if the sample code showed how to establish a video call via Jabber Guest, it should not only explain how that is accomplished but should clearly describe what technologies and skills are required.  That is the “function” of the sample code: express how to use other functionality.  I know it sounds obvious but it is easy to lose sight of when you are head-down just making it work. Finally, we all know that there are often several ways to do the same thing in code.  Sometimes it is useful to show them the same functionality from different approaches to reinforce how and why to use that functionality.  If one way should be preferred to another – tell the developer why.  It is good form to inform the developer of alternate paths – or at least be aware that they exist.  The function of sample code is to inform. Clarity Be clear not clever. When writing sample code, align anything you create to readability and comprehension.  This does not necessarily mean more comments – this means clarity in what the code is actually doing.  If you want to deeply document and comment upon a body of code just make sure that you advertise it at “annotated” code so the developer knows what to expect from the content. Once again, put yourself in their shoes.  Does this make sense?  If in doubt, send the code to peers or even someone non-technical for review.  If you find yourself having to explain too much, you may have to simplify the approach or reduce the scope to improve clarity. Style Use style to unite rather than divide.  Style is sometimes a religious issue among engineers.  Within Cisco each technology group does tend to have adherence to their own standard.  That is well within their right, but we have our own group of external developers to communicate  to.  The best thing we can do is avoid any frustration and extra work by using existing coding standards.  This is really to have a common language across all of our sample code that is helps readability and keeps things consistent for the developer trying to navigate our content. The following sources should be referenced when writing sample code. - For most languages, use the Google Style Guides https://code.google.com/p/google-styleguide/ - For Python, use the Python Enhancement Proposals https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0008/ If you haven’t already, you should also review the Engineering Communications Style Guide as a lot of the concepts translate into writing sample code.  Keep in mind: We are communicating to engineers through sample code. ... View more

While the term “ Internet of Things ” was nowhere to be found at this year’s Google I/O, the concept itself was in use everywhere.   Every major technology area presented to developers had a connection to the Google virtual and physical information ecosystems.   The smart or “conscious” home, wearables, automotive integration, physical interaction, telepresence, and device/cloud platforms all had tangible examples of what Google is doing and where they are going with connected services and endpoints. Even in the very execution of the conference, Google embraced connective technologies.   Around the show floor there was a plethora of QR codes, NFC tags, and dynamic digital signage that facilitated NFC tag hunts for prizes and direct connections to surveys, information, and other content.   Identification through the NFC chip in the badge was not unique at this conference but its seamless integration for attendees was unobtrusive and useful – especially combined with the fantastic Google I/O mobile application.   Using these technologies was well thought out and helped to connect together the whole event.   Even Google Cardboard energized the attendees with its simple approach to virtual reality on the cheap.   These were innovative uses of technology that developers could connect with.   They may not have been perfect or complete, but they were real and tangible. At the heart of the real “Internet of Things” at Google I/O was the news released regarding Nest, its Dropcam acquisition, the related Nest developer program, and interoperability announcements with Mercedes and the popular If-This-Then-That (IFTTT) mobile application.    It is one thing to announce Nest as a central hub of functionality in the home and another to actually invest in developers as a way to encourage innovation and growth.   For this conference, Google has done both.   While Nest seems to operate as an autonomous entity within Google, this is a clear move for Google overall to reach deeply into the “conscious home”.   That is, a home that is tied into your digital life and enables intelligent automation and interaction with your digital content, schedule, and communications.   For example, as a tie-in to IFTTT, Philips Hue with its controllable LED lighting was also in attendance showing how to control and automate your daily lighting needs intelligently. Furthermore, the announcement that casting from an Android device is now an intrinsic function and that Chromecast now allows you to use your own photos as the backgrounds on your televisions may seem trivial but it aligns with the use of Google technology as the digital altar in the home.   The price points of $250 USD for a Nest Thermostat and $35 USD for a Chromecast are certainly within the range for wide-adoption and truly present an interesting prototype for low-cost home automation and interactivity.   These are very common use cases within our homes and Google has made them very real and affordable. Beyond Nest, the personal area network was well represented at Google I/O. The introduction of the Android Wear platform, the new LG / Samsung devices, and Google Fit took center stage.   Arguably the largest (and most predicted) introduction to developers at the conference was that of the Android Wear platform.   Developers were given their choice of an LG G or Samsung Gear Live smart watch running Android Wear.   Both were similar on specifications and are great vehicles for the promise of private and personal interaction with your digital life.   Even though the devices are physical, it is where the Google’s services in the cloud really break through.   A wearable device cannot, on its own, access your schedule, take notes, predict your commute, tell you of upcoming flights, or log your health goals without the touching the cloud.   All of the smarts in a smart watch come from the connection to the cloud.   Without that connection, the same requirements of physically synching your device via USB or Bluetooth to a fixed workstation would remain and the use cases would become a lot less interesting.   Therefore, it is not surprising that permeating the conference was a push to get developers to try and embrace Google’s robust cloud services.   They were very visible on the floor and in the CodeLabs and Google was even giving away $500 worth of cloud services to each attendee just to help with adoption.   There were a number of sessions not only touting the capabilities of the cloud but how to integrate them with Android and improve them for more useful consumer, health, and education uses.   Although Google Glass didn’t get near as much of the spotlight as compared to Android Wear, it was certainly in attendance and the announcement of Ivy Ross as the new head means that this is real and is moving forward.   It may even point to a broader consumer focus based on her history with Mattel, Old Navy, and Disney.   Hiring a person known for their marketing expertise to navigate the product to the next phase seems wise.   Beyond any drive in marketing, I would also expect to see new (possibly smaller) hardware and more capabilities around the audio/visual capture of your everyday life from Google Glass in the next 6-12 months.   Otherwise, some of the functionality exposed in Android Wear will likely sap the relevance and utility of the Google Glass as a day-to-day consumer device. Further extending upon the Android platform is a push into the automotive market with Android Auto.   While there was an impressive list of many large automakers, there were a few notable exceptions, such as BMW, Mercedes, and Toyota.   Beyond just having an impressive partner list, there was a clear goal from Google of improving safety by not having drivers struggle with their in-car technology.   However, the buzz on the floor around Android Auto was that this is really what most consumers have wanted all along: bring the great Google Maps functionality crossed with their own content, music, and preferences to the automotive experience.   All using a platform they already use and trust: Android. Finally, the lack of marketing buzz around the “Internet of Things” likely reflects Google’s holistic approach to using the network to bridge the physical and virtual worlds and provide services that inform and enable the end-user.   This is apparent with their new Android Wear and Android Auto lines but is also reflected in their emerging telepresence area with new video streaming devices, remote controlled robots, and robotic chess players.   These examples show an innovative thrust to have remote conversations, share and collaborate on remote data, and have unique physical interactions across the network.   From the floor, attendees could remotely control remote robots in the Google offices that were essentially mobile-phones on wheels.   Maybe not the most practical application for a lot of workers, but a real implementation that could work for education student-to-teacher and student-to-student.   Being a primary communications facilitator is something that Google is pushing hard to achieve.   Part of their message may be that Hangouts are not just for end-users or small businesses, but for the classroom as well. As a company, there are few so well positioned to engage the consumer, scholastic, or residential expanses of the Internet of Everything than Google.    They have the physical equipment, virtual services, and innovative engineering horsepower to make it a reality.   This Google I/O was about spreading Google into other connected areas while consolidating around the successful Android brand.   Google TV was officially rebranded Android TV and clearly Android Auto and Android Wear are a means to this end.   However, Android One, Google’s push into low-end reference devices for emerging countries was even more important.   This marks a shift for Google that involves tighter control over the platform from both a hardware and software perspective and also opens them up to the next billion connected devices.   More devices is what the Internet of Everything needs and Google is making that happen.   In talking to the Google and Nest engineers, the concept of the Internet of Things was not useful because they felt it did not connect with the consumer in a meaningful way.   For them, the actual implementation, interoperability, and personal use cases of their technologies were far more important.   That shouldn’t be too surprising as this was a developer conference.   The emphasis on the real implementation and actual equipment over hype was expected.   During the keynote, when Sundar Pichai announced that the developers present would receive a new square Android Wear device at the conference there were cheers.   When he then announced that they would receive a round Android Wear device later in the summer, there were groans.   That is the mindset of the developer – don’t tell me about it, give it to me and let me build on it.   That is the reality. ... 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