An infrastructure for network computing with Java applets

Abstract

Java, in combination with Web browsers' abilities to load and execute untrusted Java applets in a secure fashion, has made computing over the Web a possibility. Now the challenge is to fully utilize this potential, given the limitations imposed by browsers. This paper presents KnittingFactory, an infrastructure to facilitate Web‐based computing, which addresses this challenge. It supports building distributed applications, specifically those consisting of Java applets executing in browsers. It is composed of: (i) a distributed name service to assist users in locating other participants of a distributed computation via standard browsers; (ii) an embedded class server to eliminate the need for external HTTP servers for serving applet code; and (iii) a technique for direct applet‐to‐applet communication. In this paper, we describe the design and implementation of KnittingFactory and demonstrate its benefits by applying it to three distinct areas of Web‐based computing. First, we apply our distributed name service to a client/server architecture to enable RMI clients to locate servers on unknown hosts. Second, we use the embedded class server to extend the capability of Charlotte, a parallel computing environment. Finally, we build a collaborative application using our direct applet‐to‐applet communication technique which does not require a forwarding agent. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Javelin++: scalability issues in global computing

“…This approach can lead to an even more secure execution environment than a browser itself can provide. For instance, the experiment of the Knitting Factory project [24] found that, when using Java RMI, at least one browser, Sun's HotJava, allowed direct point-to-point communication between applets once RMI handles had been exchanged through the server! Under the old security model, this was not supposed to happen.…”

Java for high‐performance network‐based computing: a survey

“…Besides the portability and interoperability achieved by a standard supporting environment, other features of the language such as its object-oriented programming model, simplicity, robustness, multithreading support, and automatic memory management have proved attractive enough for the development of software projects, especially those intended for large and complex systems. Also, the language portability has been decisive for its choice in projects that consider the use of idle computers, connected to the Internet, to solve large computational problems [5,6,7]. In addition, the growing popularity of the language helps to explain its use in the high-performance computing area.In this survey we describe and classify some Java-based projects aimed directly or indirectly at supporting the development of high-performance networked computing applications.…”