distributed computing implementations

[Jp Calderone]

On Wed, Apr 02, 2003 at 10:25:20AM -0700, Andrew Dalke wrote:
> robin:
> > If you want the biggest, boldest approach and don't care about
> > overhead, use CORBA.
> 
> What overhead would this be?  From what I see of omniORB,
> there isn't really that much.  Also, CORBA is the most complete,
> eg, it allows callbacks and passing around object references
> the others don't have.
> 

  I'm not sure about XML-RPC, SOAP, or Dopy, but I know Twisted Spread can
pass references around like this (and you can tell it just -how- you want
them passed), and I think Pyro can too.

> I've wanted to do something in CORBA for years.  I've
> never gotten there.  One problem is that I'm used to Python,
> where I don't need to describe the interface beforhand.
> CORBA wants that IDL, and a change in the object's interface
>  must be reflected in the IDL.  That just seems tedious to
> me now.
> 

  Right.  I think this is at least part of the overhead Robin was talking
about.  Several of the other schemes don't require this.

> I also do nearly everything in Python, so don't need the
> ability for different langauges to interoperate.  I just pass
> around Python objects.
> 
> I keep hoping that one of the component systems (like
> in GNOME or KDE) takes off, so that "scripting" a la
> COM takes off in unix systems, but I've been hoping
> for that for the last 5 years.

  That'd be nice.

> 
> > If you want a simpler approach but with performance and
> > implementation difficulties, use SOAP or XML-RPC.
> 
> I wouldn't put SOAP as simple, and I've had problems with
> interoperability between various packages.  If I needed to pass
> simple data around, I would use XML-RPC.

  Personally, I think SOAP is worth ignoring.  ;)  XML-RPC is what I would
choose if I were going for that sort of solution, too.

> 
> > If you want the ultimate in simplicity and are willing to foresake
> > multi-language support, use Dopy, Pyro, or Twisted Spread.
> 
> One reason I'm looking at Twisted is because it handles other
> interfaces as well.  I need to talk to SQL databases, SOAP and
> XML-RPC servers, straight HTTP, and spawned off external
> processes.

  This is definitely a benefit.  (Hooray, integration).

  From what you've said here and in your original post, I think Spread will
probably be a pretty good fit for you.

  HTH,

  Jp

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