1. Education as a Peer to Peer Grid Service
PTLIU Laboratory for Community Grids
Geoffrey Fox
Computer Science, Informatics, Physics
Indiana University
Bloomington IN 47404
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2. Some Technology Trends
Increasing performance of Internet backbone and last mile (access)
Hand-held devices and wireless  Pervasive Access
Peer to peer technologies enable new ways of collaborating and blurs distinction between clients and servers
Client-Server  Multi-tier Architectures
XML Schema and tools  All data defined as objects
Separation of client, system and persistent storage models for information
Development of (application) service model to capture common (maybe centralized) capabilities
Semantic Web, Grid or … “Next Generation Web”
New Technologies imply New Opportunities requiring typically New Business models
For Education and Training
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3. What is a Grid Service?
The Grid is distributed system allowing communities to access seamlessly heterogeneous resources from heterogeneous clients
Resources are web-pages, instruments, Object repositories, Simulation codes running on supercomputers ….
A Service is a generic application or capability respecting standards (general web and application specific) allowing multiple providers to compete on a given service
Middle Tier Broker
Portal is
customizable
User interface
Back end Capability
Resource
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4. Some General Grid Services
Business is developing “web service” concept to support areas like e-commerce where one composes atomic services like
Security
Payment
Catalog
Goods supply
Each of these services could allow
Multiple choices of provider
In a given session
Security
Catalog
Payment Credit Card
Warehouse
shipping
WSDL is new standard
for web services
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5. Architecture of Grid: CommodityScience
Commerce, Entertainment, Healthcare, Science, Computing, Education …. will be Grid Services
Science Portals & Workbenches
Twenty-First Century University
and laboratory
Computational
Services P e r f o m a n c
Networking, Devices and Systems
Grid Services (resource independent)
Grid Fabric (resource dependent)
Research Services & Technology
Research
Grid
Community Portals
Next Generation Consumer Web
Education
Business Services
Commerce
C o n v i
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6. Why use Service Idea?
Well a major lesson for me of HPCC effort was the importance of sustainable hardware and software
Software like MPI is sustainable because it is simple
Software like HPF and POOMA (DoE) illustrate the difficulties of either commercial or academic entities
Much more powerful than MPI but difficult to advise users to adopt as such “heroic (software development) efforts” can be halted for a variety of reasons
So we need to build great software where possible on simple sustainable bases
So use the Web where ever possible and try to address its obvious difficulties (performance)
Try to abstract capabilities so can build hierarchically to support range of users
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7. Simple Minded View of Services
So we are building a “component” model of software systems
Components are “just web applications” or more precisely support the web standards
You can access them from portals for Graphical User Interface
You can link to them and discover them like web applications
So Grid Services concept is a sustainable “framework” for developing parallel and distributed systems
Parallel version implies low latency / high bandwidth communications in both hardware and software
So Grid services must be implementable with high functionality (SOAP) or high performance protocols (RMI, threads)
They are subroutine library model for the Grid
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8. Why use Distance Education and Training?
New and rapidly changing Curriculum suggest the use of distance education as it will allow a few experts to deliver instruction to more students and this addresses both
The shortage of trained faculty
Offering classes with small enrollments at one university
cost of developing new curriculum QUICKLY requires many students (say around 5-10 times traditional class) to amortize cost
Distance Education is technically sound based on web curricula-- both synchronously and asynchronously -- today with very robust clear implementations available over next few years
Both delivery mechanism and identification of knowledge nuggets that are smaller than or different in content from a traditional degree suggests different approaches to certification
Courses are given, graded etc. by multiple organizations -- University integrate degrees?
Similar arguments for distance training with relative importance of synchronous and asynchronous learning differing by customer group
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9. The Virtual University
Motivated either by decreased cost or increased quality of learning environment
Will succeed due to market pressures (it will offer the best product)
Assume that as with text books, only a few pedagogically excellent teachers will produce lectures; only a few charismatic souls deliver them
“Centers of Excellence” (“Hermits Cave Virtual University”) are natural entities to produce and deliver classes supported by good technology and wonderful graphics
University acts as an integrator putting together a set of classes where it may only teach some 20% but acts as a mentor to all
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10. Capabilities of the Education Grid Service
Curriculum or “Learning Objects”
Web Pages becoming more sophisticated (Flash)
Audio-Video Conferencing, Chat rooms, white boards to support student, teacher, mentor interactions
Shared Documents for synchronous collaboration
Learning Management Systems
Student registration, Quizzes, Grading, Security
Database Storage (persistent Learning Objects)
IMS and ADL standards for interoperability
Asynchronous self paced access
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11. Some Education Grid Services
Registration
Performance (grading)
Authoring of Curriculum
Online laboratories for real and virtual instruments
Homework submission
Quizzes of various types (multiple choice, random parameters)
Assessment data access and analysis
Synchronous Delivery of Curricula
Scheduling of courses and mentoring sessions
Asynchronous access, data-mining and knowledge discovery
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12. Portal for Education Service
The User Model is that of a Portal familiar from Yahoo and the growing effort in Enterprise Information Portals (Lotus Notes implemented with Web or Object Grid technology)
Education service must use generic Portal service
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13. 3-Tier Architecture for Education Portal
Everything is an Object: Curriculum, Users, grades, computers – all are defined in XML
XML very important in online education as objects quite small, are naturally decentralized and have rich important metadata
There are several important Object Models: COM, CORBA, Java, Excel Web, flat file, Oracle Database ……
But model doesn’t matter!!
Object Repository
XML
Request
File System (Web Site) Or
Information
Export/Import
Middle Tier “Business Logic” dissociates User and Back End
Database
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14. ADL Learning Management Model
Learning Server
Content Server(s)
External systems:
HR, E-Commerce, ERP...
Migration
Adapter
API
Application
Browser
Server Side
Client Side
HTML+
Services or Adapter
Course
Interchange:
Structure
Format (CSF),
Metadata
Runtime
Environment:
Launch, API,
Data Model
“Learning
Management
System”
LMS
Common Grid Services &
Objects
Client
Server
Good but …
Client-Server not Multi-tier
Not built in terms of services
ADL is Advanced Distributed Learning – DoD Initiative
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15. Some General Grid Services
Portals
customization
Registration (security)
People Collaboration (Access Grid -- Desktop Audio Video)
Resource Collaboration (P2P, Document Sharing)
News groups
Channels
Instant Messenger
White board
Anonymity
Payment -- Digital Cash
Catalog Support
Comments as in Amazon
Surveys
Decision Making
Authoritarian
Consensus
Group Mediation
Advertising
Search/Knowledge Discovery (Digital Library Service)
MyGoogle
Need for structured (Directory in Google, Indexed Databases etc.)
Unstructured Data (basic Google)
Computing Interface
Workflow
Support flow of information (approval) through some process
secure authentication of this flow
Authoring
Multi-fragment pages
Charts
Multimedia
Video on Demand
Tenure evaluation support
Generate CV
Refereeing
Universal Access
from PDA/Phone to disabilities
caching
Akamai
Scaling
performance
trouble shooting grid
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16. Science as a Grid Service I
Science Generic Services building on previous Grid services
Storage Rendering and Authoring of Mathematics
Other specialized authoring and rendering
Scientific Whiteboard
nD (n=2 3) Support
GIS
Virtual worlds
Integration of different sciences
optimization (NEOS)
image processing
"SCALAPACK" etc. (NETSOLVE)
Matlab as a Grid Service
Education as a Grid service
Authoring
Curriculum specification and associated services specification:
prerequisites
completion requirements
Grading
Homework Submission
Quiz Setting including individualized questions
Quiz Taking
Office Hours
Mentoring
Delivery
Assessment including
evaluation of material
evaluation of student interaction with material
Self paced learning
Particular learning models from K-12 to Lifelong
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17. Science as a Grid Service II
General Science Research
Computing Interface
Job Control/Submission
Scheduling
Visualization
Programming
Parameter Specification
Legacy Code support (wrapping)
Application Integration
Software version control
Monitoring .....
Scientific Data services
High Performance
Special Formats
Virtual data as in Gryphyn
Fastlane/ Report submission
Science Library
Publication
Comparison of Theory/Expt
evaluation
Research -- Theory/Discussion
Scientific Notebook/Whiteboard
Brainstorming
Seminars
Theorem proving
Research -- Experimental
Virtual Control Room from accelerator to satellite
Data Analysis
Virtual Instrument
Sensors
Satellites to Field work to wireless in the Amazon
to Video cameras recording earthquake damage
to LED in rack of accelerator control module
medical instruments (Telemedicine Grid Service)
Outreach
Multi-cultural customization
Multi-level presentations
Note Outreach Shares many services with Research but some components are at a “less detailed” level
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18. Why use Distance Education and Training?
New and rapidly changing Curriculum suggest the use of distance education as it will allow a few experts to deliver instruction to more students and this addresses both
The shortage of trained faculty
Offering classes with small enrollments at one university
cost of developing new curriculum QUICKLY requires many students (say around 5-10 times traditional class) to amortize cost
Distance Education is technically sound based on web curricula-- both synchronously and asynchronously -- today with very robust clear implementations available over next few years
Both delivery mechanism and identification of knowledge nuggets that are smaller than or different in content from a traditional degree suggests different approaches to certification
Courses are given, graded etc. by multiple organizations -- University integrate degrees?
Similar arguments for distance training with relative importance of synchronous and asynchronous learning differing by customer group
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19. Courses at Jackson State
Taught using Tango since fall 97 over Internet and defense high performance network DREN twice a week from Syracuse
Course material based on Syracuse Senior Undergraduate class CPS406(Web Technologies) and graduate classes CPS615/616/640(Base Computational science/Internetics)
Curricula, Homework, Grading, Facilities done by Syracuse
Students get JSU NOT Syracuse Credit
Jackson State major HBC University with many computer science graduates
Do not compete with base courses but offer addon courses with “leading edge” material (Web Technology, modern scientific computing) which give JSU (under)graduates skills that are important in their career
Fall 99 Semester CPS640 offered to 40 students in 5 distant places and separately 40 at Syracuse
Fall 2001 restart with “latest technology” (Access Grid, HearMe, Garnet)
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20. Architecture of Tango Distance Education
Share URL’s
Audio Video
Conferencing Chat Rooms
White Boards etc.
JSU Web (Proxy)Server
NPAC Web Server
Student’s View of Curriculum Page
Teacher’s View of Curriculum Page
HTTP
Java Tango Server
Address at JSU of Curriculum Page
…….
Java Sockets
…….
Java Control Clients
Participants at JSU
Teacher/Lecturer at NPAC
All Curricula placed on the Web
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21. What is Web-based Collaboration?
Collaboration means sharing objects (Web Page very important object)
Web-based Collaboration implies use of Web to share distributed objects accessible through the Web
Shared Web Pages; Resources accessed through Web Servers or Brokers; Client-side applications with programmatic interfaces such as Java Physics Simulations
Web Page
Specify Page
Receive Identical Page
Web Site
Shared Page
Shared Pointer
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22. > Two Shared Physics Simulations – SHO and Vector cross product > Chat Room > Audio video conferencing
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23. What did this lead to?
Jackson State students got access to curricula that was not otherwise available to them
Developed quite good Information Technology and computational science curricula
Jackson State faculty acted as mentors in course and now teach some of material in their own courses and to other HBCU colleges
Make rapidly changing and important curricula available to an HBCU network -- could dramatically improve curricula opportunities for HBCU students
JSU has institutional commitment to area
Used in High School Java, DoD wide training and Winter 00 semester as part of ERDC Graduate Institute
Supports migrant teachers -- I have delivered course spring 00 semester from Syracuse, FSU and ERDC, Vicksburg
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24. Saturday Java Academy
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25. Hierarchical Delivery Model
One could teach to 1000 different students – each at a separate workstation but …
No real opportunity for questions so better to use broadcast technology – not conferencing
Further could better deliver to 40 classrooms – each with an average of 25 students
Each classroom has central high quality A/V conferencing, displays and
A Mentor monitoring and helping students
Each student could have wireless laptop or PDA
So synchronous systems must support simultaneously disparate clients – high end display to PC to PDA
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26. Authoring of Curriculum
Market pressures push to high end authoring
Authoring approaches for the Web can include
Basic HTML
Macromedia/Adobe/etc. packages like Fireworks, Dreamweaver, Illustrator
PowerPoint and Word exported
Also can include RealNetworks or Microsoft or .. Format Multimedia
Note Streaming multimedia formats have larger buffers than A/V conferencing formats
Certainly use XML to specify content and render this into attractive portal
SVG and SMIL are important 2D vector graphics and multimedia standards
HTML does not give reproducible pages
Flash can be thought of as “proprietary SVG”
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27. Current Status and Futures
Commercial Systems such as Centra, WebEx, Anabas and Placeware offer similar functionality to our old system Tango for synchronous collaboration
Shared applications, chatroom, whiteboard, A/V conferencing
Blackboard, WebCT, Lotus offer learning management systems – Can they switch to IMS, ADL standards; high-end authoring and XML based object technology (not databases or files)
Access Grid (community e.g. classroom) and HearMe (desktop) are new internet audio-video systems which are be used with shared object systems
I develop research system Garnet for education portals
Features hand-held and desktop clients, integrated collaboration and some “technical advances” – major use of XML, shared SVG
Peer to Peer Grids suggest decentralized architecture (
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28. Commercial Collaboration Systems
Centra
Anabas
WebEx
PlaceWare
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29. SVG Sharing PC to PDA Batik Viewer on PC
PowerPoint can be converted to SVG via Illustrator or Web export
SVG Sharing PC to PDA
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30. Access Grid (Argonne, NCSA) and HearMe
Access Grid: Community HearMe: desktop integrates phones and Internet Audio
Ambient mic
(tabletop)
Presenter
camera
Audience camera
mic
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31. Garnet Heritage/Assumptions
Support Education, Training and if possible Computing as Grid(Web) Services
Use best practice commercial and academic capabilities
Access Grid, HearMe, Anabas, (JMS, WSDL, EJB, Castor, Oracle etc.)
Worry about Centra, WebEx, Placeware, Blackboard, WebCT, Saba, Groove, Docent etc.
Respect IMS/ADL Learning Object standards ( and GGF Computing Objects
Integrate Synchronous and Asynchronous ( “learning management system”) collaboration
Support hand held and desktop clients (universal access)
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32. Garnet Technology Uniform XML event (message) based architecture
Linked with a publish-subscribe paradigm
XML Schema GXOS supports hierarchical data structures (compatible with DoD ADL SCORM for learning objects)
XML for all metadata (Users, documents, computers) and object changes -- from text chats to display changes etc.)
Java Middleware using Enterprise Javabeans
Production system uses JMS (Java Message Service) to implement publish-subscribe
JMS does Synchronous and Asynchronous Messaging
MyXoS manages XML information nuggets
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33. Important Capabilities in Initial Garnet
Standard stuff: built in shared display, whiteboard, HearMe Audio control, quizzes, annotations, chat/IM (Jabber.org)
Desktop video will be special case of shared display
Record and replay all features of session (SMIL)
A/V, Presentation, Annotations, Text Chat
Several Specialized Collaborative Shared Export Viewers: JSP, ( later HTML, Acrobat ..)
Initial SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) Shared Batik Viewer
2D Scientific Visualization/Whiteboard
Macromedia (Flash~SVG) and Adobe (already “all” to SVG)
Initial source of SVG: Convert PowerPoint VML/WMF to SVG
Gives shared export model for PowerPoint with each client able to scale independently at high resolution
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34. JMS (Java Message Service) Structure in Garnet
Basic primitive is a topic/property labeled queue = JXTA Pipe
Pipes are collections of either messages or other pipes and just “nodes” in information hierarchy labeled by a URI
JMS Global (distributed) Event Receptor (Queue)
Subscribe
Subscribe
Publish
HHMS
Convert Events to JMS
HHMS (Hand Held Message Service) Optimized for
Performance.
JavaScript
Java
C …..
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35. Performance of Commercial JMS I
One millisecond latency is
fine for Synchronous Collaboration and
fine for Grid Implementation
Non-persistent as We do database backup outside JMS
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36. Peer to Peer P2P Networks
Publish/Subscribe is mechanism we use to establish who gets what information for Collaboration and P2P and may be ALL Grid and ALL Web Services?
Gnutella and JXTA are different implementations (from JMS) of P2P information propagation
GMS can be built on top of JXTA or JMS architecture
JXTA like MyXoS identifies the implicit distributed operating (control messages/metadata) system
Both have message queues as primitives
Both have Shell
Both use XML based messages
JXTA Advertisements are similar to GXOS metadata for objects
Message (or event) services underlie P2P Grids
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37. Classic Grid Architecture
Resources
Database
Database
Neos
Composition
Middle Tier Brokers Service Providers
Netsolve
Security
Portal
Portal
Typically separate Clients Servers Resources
Clients
Users and Devices
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38. Peer to Peer Network Peers
User
Resource
Service
Routing
Peers are Jacks of all Trades linked to “all” peers in community
Typically Integrated Clients Servers and Resources
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39. Peer to Peer Grid Dynamic Message or
User
Resource
Service
Routing
Dynamic Message or
Event Routing from Peers or Servers
Services
GMS Routing
GMS or GES is Grid Message/Event Service
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40. Single Server P2P Illusion
Data
base
JMS/GMS Server
Traditional Collaboration Architecture e.g. commercial WebEx and old Syracuse system Tango
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41. P2P Grid Event Service – a better JMS
Dynamic Collection of some billion computers each of which can either generate, route or consume events
Publisher labels events by an (XML) object which is at simplest a URI but in general a collection of tag-values or instance of XML Schema
Subscribers issue some sort of XML Query e.g. deliver all gxos://garnet/Education/Graduate/ComputerScience/ Indiana/Spring2001/CPS616/Lecture3/*
Need Secure, High Performance, Efficient (don’t propagate events further than they need), Fault Tolerant delivery service
Shrideep Pallickara PhD June
Current version Java RMI based – could be SOAP
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42. Proposed GMS Model for Messages
All message publication labels and subscription profiles are defined in XML
Database
Subscribes to all events to get persistence
Subscriber Profile Objects
Specify Query to Event Label
Message Queue
Labeled by (XML) Topic Object
Subscribers
Publishers
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43. Multiple Server P2P Illusion
JMS
Server
Data
base
JMS
Server
Generate “Automatically”
JMS
Server
We are moving from client – server – resource model with
Clearly defined responsibilities to a
Heterogeneous Dynamic Grid of service providers and
Service consumers which are not necessarily distinct
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44. Some Results – 22 Servers
Servers are logically but not necessarily physically distinct
from clients
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45. Match Rates of 10% & Server Hop to client = 1
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46. Event-based Garnet Architecture
All Objects are defined in XML (metadata)– this XML view could be “virtual” but can be used to discover, edit (etc.) objects – labeled by a URI
GXOS manages meta data defining all Objects -- it doesn’t really want to manage Objects, just information required to find, access, store, render and share it
MUST have a good object management system to build collaboration service
Rendering includes Palm devices as well as PC’s
Entities are people, cuuricula, grades, computers etc.
All actions including object changes are events – all events are GXOS objects
Instant Messenger access, Framebuffer changes etc. are all GXOS events uniformly routed/archived etc.
There is a Shell MyXoS with basic Services (copy, create, collaborate etc.) – similar in concept to JXTA Shell
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47. Overall Structure of GXOS for a MegaMeeting
Event Archive
Capabilities
Global Root
Users
Devices
Documents
Admin
Multimedia
Have a hierarchy of MegaMeetings (any collection of meetings) Course, Degree .. Are MegaMeetings
MegaMeeting
Any level (except lowest) can be a pipe
Meeting
Meeting
Meeting
gxos://Education/University/Indiana/CS/PhD/Course/Lecture
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48. Interface of XML and Java I
How will we teach computing?
K-4: Internet Access
Middle School: (Simple) XML Schema interfaced to some scripting language
High School: Java as the programming model with Java classes (for external data) generated
Probably don’t want to specify objects twice
Start in Java; generate Schema
Or Start with Schema and generate Java
Need a natural API of computer code to real or virtual XML
Current mechanisms seem quaint (JDBC), inefficient (parsers), or non standard (Castor)
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49. Interface of XML and Java II
Database
(Virtual) XML View
Choose
And Convert
Middleware(EJB)
Suppose we have a quadrillion (1015) XML objects as say produced by a physics accelerator per year (Enterprise GXOS)
Need to combine:
Search Interface to select nodes of XML Tree
Specify URI
JDBC or Google like Interfaces
Castor like Interface to map XML into Java but need to control depth of conversion from XML into Java
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50. Current GXOS API Architecture
Initially implement “Personal GXOS” – Information Repository small enough that we can afford to read all possibly relevant information into memory and refine this
E.g. Support course data for individual faculty
File.xml  XML Object  Java Object and vice versa
Use Castor to automate XML Schema to Java Object
Primitives Supported Initially
Get a “leaf Object”
Get a Collection (Internal Node) – “handle” and self.xml (the GXOS properties associated with this node)
List Contents of a collection (recursively)
Get Contents of a collection (recursively)
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