🚀 go-pugleaf

> Proud of the networking functions in the Java library, are we?
> VisualWorks Smalltalk has had such for quite a while now. 
> ...smalltalk example deleted...
> I wonder how easy this stuff is in Telescript?  

Alan, I forwarded your question about Telescript to General Magic and
got the following reply from Rory Ward. --Dan


Here is a similar example to the Smalltalk example given.

Since Telescript is all about distributed programming, all the network
infrastructure is built directly into language. Telescript provides a high
level of network abstraction, so you don't need to worry about sockets or
flattening data or what byte means what. Telescript allows objects and code to
travel around the network. Agents are a type of Telescript process that can
'go' around the network. Places are a different type of Telescript process
that host agents. Effectively, agents are clients and places are servers.
Programmers subclass agents and places as they see fit. When an agents go, its
complete state and optionally its class is transmitted across the network on a
secure, authenticated connection. And I don't need to worry about the remote
engine coming down, because Telescript objects (including processes) are
automatically persisted. When the engine is brought back up, I'll continue
from where I stopped.

An agent that goes to a remote host to get the time:

// TimeAgent is a subclass of Agent. Agent's can roam the network. Cool
TimeAgent: class(Agent) = (
public
  // The host and port of the destination Telescript Engine I am going to
  host: String;  port: Integer;

  // initialize my host and port and escalate to my superclass
  initialize:
    op(host: copied String; port: Integer;
       Permit; Permit|Nil; Integer|Nil; OctetString|Nil) = { ^; };

  // Specialize my live method. This is may main(). Every Telescript
  // process has its own thread of execution
  live:
    sponsored op(ex: Exception|Nil) =
  {
    // Create the ticket to where I'm going. The Way says I should
    // use TCP to travel to my destination
    // The nils mean I don't care what place I end up in. 
    // The destination engine will choose what place I will end up 
    // (at the discretion of the place)
    ticket:= Ticket(nil, nil, nil, nil, Way(nil, TCPMeans(port, host)));

    // Make sure we can catch an exception while travelling
    try {

      // Go to the remote site. It's as simple as one operation.
      // Everything (properties, class, run stack) gets packed up
      // and I am transferred through an authenticated connection
      // to my destination
      *.go(ticket);

      // I am now at the remote site. What time is it ??
      Time().dump();
    } 
    // If the remote site isn't available, I get a TripException
    catch TripException { "Couldn't get there".dump(); };
  };
);

/Rory
Rory Ward
General Magic Inc
rory_ward@genmagic.com