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Apratim Purakayastha Senior manager, enterprise extension frameworks "I feel that writing something down is an important validation of understanding." |
On the book: SyncML: Synchronizing and Managing Your Mobile Data (2002)
What made you decide to write a book on this topic?
I have been working in the area of mobile computing and specifically in the area of mobile data synchronization for a few years. Working with colleagues in IBM Research and Lotus we came up with the thought that one of the key problems in data synchronization across different end user agents is how those agents capture, express, and understand changes to each other's data. We came up a with an XML-based dialect to express various operations on data and designed an underlying semantic model for capturing and expressing changes. This was deemed valuable by several key industry players and together we decided to standardize this dialect and the handshake protocol. We named in SyncML. Now SyncML is a widely adopted standard in the mobile data area and is implemented in various mobile devices including popular phones. Open source implementations are also available. As this was happening, my colleagues and myself realized that there is no clear literature that explains the concepts, motivation, and design behind SyncML. We felt it important to capture this in a book such that SyncML developers and users are as best informed as possible.
How did you go about the research necessary to write such a technical book?
First we surveyed a few people to get a feeling for the necessity of this book. We found talking to a few industry and academic folks that they feel a lack of books in this whole mobile data area (for example, even to teach a course) let alone one focusing on a particular standard. We surveyed the literature ourselves and observed a big gap. The best we found at that time was a edited collection of related papers from a few conferences. We decided that in our book, while we focus and provide enough detail on the specifics of SyncML, we also needed to introduce the overall area, its background, use cases, and technical challenges and justification of chosen design points in SyncML.
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What are the greatest challenges to you as an author?
Finding time in a busy professional life was the most challenging. Most of the book was written in airplanes and in wee hours of the night. Also, you will notice that we have co-authors across the globe. Collaborating across several time zones was another big challenge.
What or who inspires and encourages you to write?
I do not write books regularly. This book was inspired by the obvious need for it as explained above. I write a few papers a year (technical and high level). I feel that writing something down is an important validation of understanding.
What advice do you have for aspiring authors?
Make sure you have time for your book project. Do not start on something and do a poor job. Once you do it, its published, and you cannot escape the shame !! Also, set definite goals of finishing the book and then finishing the individual chapters within. I think discipline is key, otherwise things can just drag on.
Who are some of your favorite authors today?
I do not read a lot of books now. In the technical category I will list my old favorites : Don Knuth, Andy Tanenbaum, Brian Kernighan & Dennis Ritchie, E. Dijkstra, and Stephen Hawking. In the management category I will list : Stephen Covey and Clayton Christensen. In the popular category I will list : Dan Brown and an old favorite Ayn Rand.
What role did books play in your childhood?
A major role in my overall education and development as a person. Cannot overstate this. We did not have the internet and there was no Google. I think books gave me a holistic and deeper view into things which has left a mark in my attitude towards technology. Sometimes I find today's youngsters have a lot of shallow information at their fingertips because of various tools but sometimes lack the depth necessary to generate new valuable knowledge.