A Web-Based Distributed Programming Environment

Abstract

A Java-based system called the GeoJAVA System was introduced in [1]. This system allows a user to remotely compile his/her own C/C++ programs and execute them for visualization among a group of remote users. DISPE, which stands for DIStributed Programming Environment, expands on the GeoJAVA System by allowing the resulting executables to be run on systems other than the host on which they were compiled, thus making the system more versatile. DISPE uses Common Object Request Broker (CORBA) services to enable executables compiled on this system to invoke methods in libraries on remote sites in an architecturally heterogeneous environment. Not only does this allow users to compile and execute their programs remotely, but the maintenance and duplication of libraries is lowered since agents are used to search for symbols in libraries located remotely and to compile them with the user’s source code. As long as there is an Internet connection between the hosts on which these libraries reside, the agents can search and compile with these libraries.

This work supported in part by the National Science Foundation under the Grant CCR-9731638, and by the National Science Council under the Grant NSC-9-2213-E-001-012.