MOBILE COMPUTING REFERS TO THE COMPUTATIONAL TASKS PERFORMED BY MOBILE USERS USING THEIR HANDSETS. SINCE THE HANDSETS HAVE VERY LIMITED PROCESSING POWER AND MEMORY, THESE DEVICES BY THEMSELVES DO NOT HAVE THE CAPABILITY TO CARRY OUT ANY SIGNIFICANT AND MEANINGFUL COMPUTATIONS AND CAN ONLY SERVE AS THE FRONT-END FOR INVOKING REMOTE APPLICATIONS. MOBILE COMPUTATION, THEREFORE, INEVITABLY INVOLVES THE INVOCATION OF APPLICATIONS RUNNING ON REMOTE SERVERS. IN OTHER WORDS, MOBILE COMPUTATION IS USUALLY ACHIEVED BY THE INTERACTION OF A FRONT-END APPLICATION RUNNING ON THE MOBILE HANDSET WITH A SERVER, SEAMLESSLY, THROUGH THE MEDIUM OF WIRELESS COMMUNICATION. THE RAPIDLY EXPANDING TECHNOLOGY OF CELLULAR COMMUNICATION, WIRELESS LANS, AND SATELLITE SERVICES WILL MAKE INFORMATION ACCESSIBLE ANYWHERE AND AT ANY TIME. IN THE NEAR FUTURE, TENS OF MILLIONS OF PEOPLE WILL CARRY A PORTABLE PALMTOP OR LAPTOP COMPUTER. THIS BOOK PRESENTS A SNAPSHOP OF THE NEW, EXCITING, AND RAPIDLY DEVLOPING FIELD OF MOBILE COMPUTING. ALTHOUGH HARDWARE IN THIS AREA IS ADVANCING RAPIDLY, AND THE CAPABILITIES OF HARDWARE SPURRED MUCH OF THE INITIAL EXCITEMENT REGARDING MOBILITY, IT IS INCREASINGLY CLEAR THAT IT IS DEVELOPMENTS IN THE SOFTWARE DOMAIN THAT WILL BRING THE POWER OF MOBILE HARDWARE TO A WIDE GROUP OF POTENTIAL USERS. EMERGING DEVELOPMENTS IN SOFTWARE ARE LEADING TO PRACTICAL, EASY-TO-USE APPLICATIONS.
