  Lab of Things (LoT, lab-of-things.com) is a research platform for
interconnection, programming, and large scale deployment of devices and
sensors. These devices and sensors can then be used for deployment of field
studies in a variety of research areas including elderly care, energy
management, and the like. LoT is built on top of HomeOS, a middle-ware
component, making interconnection of a wide range of devices possible. LoT also
provides cloud storage and remote monitoring capabilities. Traditionally
programming on the LoT platform has been done using C# in Microsoft Visual
Studio. While LoT programs developed on the .NET framework offer a rich set of
functionality, writing programs on LoT can be challenging for developers who
are not experienced with the technology involved. In this demonstration, we
introduce an innovative programming approach on the LoT platform by building a
Generic Application and creating corresponding libraries on the user-friendly
TouchDevelop (touchdevelop.com) programming environment. As an example, we
implemented the same functionality of the Lab of Things Alerts application
using the new Generic App. In addition to a touch-enabled programming
environment, the new approach also significantly saves time and effort
developers have to devote when creating a customized Lab of Things application.
