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Building Networked Apps

Slice Technologies at Dubhacks

Seattle, WA

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Networked Apps

Ok, great. Now what?

Client-Server

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Architecture

• Building software = weighing tradeoffs

– Ultimately depends on requirements

• Networked apps

– Do work on client?

– Do work on server?

Thin vs. thick clients

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Thin Client

More work on server

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Thick Client

More work on clients

Careful: sync is hard!

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Most apps are hybrid

Web apps

E-commerce (Amazon)

Social (Facebook)

Productivity (Evernote)

Games (Single-player)

Utility (Camera)Thick

Thin

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Which to choose?

• Trend towards thinner clients

– Networks are much better

• Have your own server?

• Or using a third-party API?

• Start thin, add on thick features

• Keep your network layer separate!

Let’s take a look at Slice…

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Slice App

• Loads all user purchases

• Search, totals, and trends

• Problem: latency

– Sluggish interface

– Slow start-up time

Solution?

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Fatten up!

• Local database

– Data persistence

– Indexed search

• Simplified refresh

– First import, then update

• Don’t want to solve sync yet

– Synchronous edit

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Image Search

• Product images

• Done on client to avoid rate limits

• Complex and distributed logic

Search “Steve Jobs” book

Web iOS Android

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Slim down…

• Centralize logic

• Search triggered by apps, done on server

• Consistency between platforms

• Some downsides

– Extra cost

– Throttling

– Ok at our scale

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Takeaways

• Spend a little time on architecture

• Start thin, add on thick features

• Keep your network layer separate

• Weigh thin vs. thick clients

– Application needs

– Network

– Development time