Abstract: One embodiment of the present invention provides a method for supporting the development of a parallel/distributed application, wherein the development process comprises a design phase, an implementation phase and a test phase. A script language can be provided in the design phase for representing elements of a connectivity graph and the connectivity between them. In the implementation phase, modules can be provided for implementing functionality of the application, executors can be provided for defining a type of execution for the modules, and process-instances can be provided for distributing the application over several computing devices. In the test phase, abstraction levels can be provided for monitoring and testing the application.

Abstract: One embodiment of the present invention provides a method for gathering information from an environment. In a first step, visual information is gathered from the environment. In a second step, information actively transmitted by objects in the environment is received. According to one embodiment, the information actively transmitted by objects in the environment is received wirelessly. In a third step, the visual information is combined with the received information in order to recognize objects.