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0 pointspedalpete10y ago0 comments

I think it depends on the application, I agree it isn't for everything.

What I find a bit funny about some embedded stuff is that I don't think performance is always as important as in other systems.

Consider something like Nest. If it takes 50ms or 500ms for the thermastat to respond, what is the implications. Compare that to a webpage, and all of a sudden, performance isn't a prime factor. Another example is a decibel meter I'm currently building. I need it to send data to a server when sounds reach above a certain level. How important is performance in that scenario. As well as things like Amazon's nifty little ordering button, I'm quite sure performance doesn't really matter on that.

So, in devices where performance is a primary concern, at the moment, javascript probably isn't the way to go. Though, with progress in things like asm.js, that may change in the near future too.

I'm not suggesting this is the tool for everything, but as I look at it, IoT probably has fewer use-cases where performance is a primary concern than other environments.

Of course, probably all safety systems, self-driving cars, drones, etc. etc. are not recommended to be done in JS... yet.. :)

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rdc1210y ago

For the thermostat it could well depend on the context to how much the latency matters.

If your recording average ambient temperature it probably doesn't matter much. If instead it is part of a physics experiment it could matter a lot. If it is part of some industrial control system [1] it could be critical.

For the ordering button the time taken doesn't matter, but the less time it takes (especially with the wifi hardware), is going to be a factor in how much power it consumes, and therefore battery life.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_theory

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