[meta-sig] Proposal: ULS-SIG

[Duncan McGreggor]

On Tue, 2008-09-02 at 20:19 -0500, Duncan McGreggor wrote:
> To the Meta-SIG members:
> 
> Steve Holden, Jim Baker and I have been discussing an interest in and
> need for a Python ULS-SIG mail list at Python.org. In this email, we
> propose the creation of this list, provide some background information
> on the topic, and include members of the Python community who have
> expressed interest in said list, members we would consider to be
> "founding members" of this SIG.
> 
> Proposal:
> 
> We would like to establish an official Python ULS-SIG. This would
> accomplish the following:
>  1) further Python's (and Jython's) place in the world of SOAs
> (service oriented architectures) as a first approximation of ultra
> large-scale systems;
>  2) lend Python some credibility in the research and prototype phases
> of ULS work;
>  3) send signals to the ULS community of academic, business, and
> government organizations that Python and its community of individual
> developers, of software projects, and of businesses are all valuable
> resources for ULS work and related research;
>  4) provide a place for like- and future-minded Python
> developers/researchers to engage in pertinent conversations concerning
> issues of Python's use in systems of massive scale including the
> research, development, prototyping, and implementations there of.
> 
> Per the instructions at
> http://www.python.org/community/sigs/guidelines/, we submit the
> following:
> 
> Short Description: Ultra Large-Scale Systems
> 
> Long Description: This SIG exists in order to discuss the emerging
> field of computing in the context of ultra large-scale systems and how
> such systems relate to or can be built with Python.
> 
> With the exception of its use at Google, Python as a language gets
> very little press in large systems deployments. Java saw the
> innovations of such concepts as the Enterprise Service Bus and has
> dominated the field of SOA
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service-oriented_architecture)
> development for large enterprise deployments. However, thanks to the
> work of the Jython team, this is not something that we need to compete
> with nor fight in anyway, but rather with which we can join forces.
> This is important due to the fact that, in many regards, success in
> developing and deploying SOAs is a first step towards creating ULS
> systems. Nevertheless, in order to make ultra large-scale systems a
> reality, a great deal of research and prototyping needs to take place
> over the next 10-20 years. We will provide a means by which members of
> the Python community can keep in touch with progress towards making
> ULS a reality and find focus for efforts which converge with their own
> interests, including (among many others) multi-language integration,
> leveraging existing community efforts, and simplifying or building
> upon successful architectures.
> 
> Background Information:
> 
> The term "Ultra Large-Scale Systems" comes out of the research that
> was done in 2005-2006 by the Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering
> Institute. It entails the "creation" of systems of the next 10-20
> years, systems that will be too large for current design, development,
> management, and interaction practices. These systems will come into
> being through amalgamated services united to provide solutions for a
> particular (potentially very large) problem space. The official report
> is rather long but is available for free
> (http://www.sei.cmu.edu/uls/files/ULS_Book2006.pdf). Shorter summaries
> are also available. There is  one that gives a fairly concise summary,
> especially on slide 22 and 23
> (http://www.sei.cmu.edu/uls/files/OOPSLA06.pdf). Though that
> particular presentation's content is focused on defense applications,
> these problems are of deep interest/concern to industries such as the
> medical field and other organizations that will have extensive and
> diverse infrastructure and services operating in diverse and
> potentially hostile environments. Another presentation outlines the
> research that needs to be actively pursued in order to make ULS
> systems a reality (see pages 69, 38, 37 -- note that the dotted 6.x.y
> number refer to sections in the official ULS report;
> http://www.sei.cmu.edu/uls/files/roadmap.pdf).
> 
> Interested Parties:
> 
> On their own behalf or on the part of their development teams, their
> communities, or their employers, the following individuals have
> expressed an interest in a Python ULS-SIG:
> 
> Steve Holden, Holden Web
> Jim Baker, Zyasoft
> Duncan McGreggor, ULS Evangelist
> Gustavo Niemeyer, Canonical
> Chris Armstrong, Canonical
> Ralph Meijer, XMPP Evangelist
> Christian Tismer, Stackless
> Kristján Valur Jónsson, CCP (EVE Online)
> Axel Angeli, SOA Evangelist/Conference Coordinator
> 
> Thanks for your time and we look forward to hearing your comments.
> 
> Duncan McGreggor

Hey folks, 

This was was in the mailman queue for a while (And just released), so
I'm responding to it for a ping and to bring the thread to today's date.

Thanks,

d