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Archived Messages for LINUX-USERS_1997@cebaf.gov: Re: A comment

Re: A comment

Ian Bird (igb@CEBAF.GOV)
Fri, 07 Feb 1997 14:17:07 -0500

templon@studbolt.physast.uga.edu said:
> Java certainly does run under Linux, but let me understand you
> correctly, will jput/jget be responsible for transferring lots of data
> from tape/silo/etc to some local, temporary disk storage, or will it
> only do some silo control? If it has to move lots of data (jput/jget
> itself) then I would NOT recommend using Java unless the java command
> being used to do the transfer was actually just a wrapper for a C or
> assembler routine. Java is a bytecoded, interpreted language if I'm
> not mistaken, and you will make the command probably about ten times
> slower than it needs to be by taking this route.

There is a mis-understanding here. The farm software (including the jput/jget
utilities) is being implemented in Java. But let me reassure you that Java
is ONLY doing control and user interaction. The movement of data will be
done by OSM (moving data between tape and disk) and rcp/rfio (between machines
across the network). We are well aware of the limitations in Java and would
certainly not attempt to do any time-critical processing with it, however it
does have some very elegant and convenient features which make it ideal for the
type of network-wide control system that we need.

By the way, since you mention setup, we are intending to take another look at
the whole issue of setup - whether it is really needed at all for most things,
ways to speed it up when it is needed, and to make it work for bourne-like
shells.

Ian Bird