John Catherino's Blog: Linux Archives

Posted by cajo on August 30, 2005 at 07:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The cajo project is a very compact framework to enable completely transparent use, and transport of, ordinary unmodified Java objects; between Java Virtual Machines. It allows distributed computers to effectively coalesce; into a seamless, Virtual Virtual Machine. Its ease of use is undoubtedly its most intriguing feature.

The foundation of its operation is its transparent method invocation mechanism. It allows dynamic interchangeability of local and remote objects, with no source impact. As a result, the framework requires no interfaces, no XML, no annotations, and works with all JREs; 1.2 and higher. This makes cajo a unique, 'drop-in' technology; which can distribute literally any application, without re-designing it.

The framework applies four basic technologies; referred to as IPMB. Click on the links below, for more detailed information.

Items – Remote objects:
An item is an ordinary object, which is made remotely accessible. This can be done with as little as one line of code. The framework allows the public methods of the object to be invoked remotely.

Proxies – Mobile objects:
A proxy is an ordinary object, which is transparently duplicated inside another VM. A proxy allows otherwise remote code, and data, to be accessed locally.

Multicast – Object discovery:
Multicasting provides a mechanism whereby a remote object reference can be broadcast, and be received, by all listening VMs. It provides the ability to both transmit, and to receive these broadcasts.

BeanShell – Object scripting:
BeanShell provides an interactive, or file driven scripting environment, using pure Java. It is extremely useful; for quick jobs, experiments, and debugging. Items and Proxies integrate cleanly, as regular objects.

All these capabilities, and several more very interesting classes, come in its 38kB codebase jar. It has no dependencies on any frameworks; other than a Java Runtime Environment 1.2+, and optionally, the BeanShell jar.

Java raised to the power Linux

Posted by cajo on March 13, 2004 at 07:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

For passionate Java developers, the network is the computer. However Java, and in particular its runtime environment, require a highly sophisticated operating system on which to run. Enter Linux; you would be hard pressed to find any system with more features. So, how does Linux increase the power of Java?

First let’s look at what Linux represents; it is a free, heterogeneous, network-integrated operating system. It runs on many hardware architectures (RISC, CISC…) and many platforms (ARM, PPC, x86, SPARC…). On the other hand, Java is a heterogeneous, network-integrated language. It is architecture agnostic, meaning no recompiling, and its code is network loadable. Together they can provide a ubiquitous standard environment, on a diversity of platforms.

Next look at all of the fine Java projects here at java.net, and other places, like Sourceforge and Savannah. Not only are our numbers increasing, but also another interesting thing is happening. You’ll see all sorts of projects to develop standard utility applications; browsers, mail clients, office suites, and even media players. Are we reinventing the wheel? No. We are inventing the ubiquitous wheel. Very soon all major utility applications will have been rewritten in Java.

Finally consider how easy it will be to make useful new devices. Design the hardware, bring up Linux, add in Java, and presto! A multitude of pre-written software, from enthusiastic developers, all dynamically loadable. Innovation and platform diversity is an exciting vision. Would all this flexibility require Java to be open source? I believe yes, to be as adaptive as would be required for this scenario. Linux combined with Java create the opportunity to easily and quickly create ‘JVMlets’, i.e. small fully functional runtime environments, on multitudes of devices, all working together.

There is no question, Java is huge, and I truly believe Java will reach even greater heights, standing on the exceptionally broad shoulders of Linux. Essentially, Linux abstracts the hardware, and Java abstracts the network.

This is where I want to go today, how about you?

Powered by
Movable Type 3.01D

java.net RSS Feeds