>>>>> "BC" == Brad Chapman <chapmanb at arches.uga.edu> writes: BC> Hi, I should butt in on this discussion since I'm probably the BC> one who pushed for CORBA the most out of anyone. I should also BC> preface this all by saying that I like CORBA *a lot* and so BC> everything I say is probably baised by this :-) Good to have that prior. BC> I've spent some time looking at XML-RPC and SOAP, and from all BC> of my impressions, it seems like they are primarily designed BC> to be used in web applications. This seems to be kind of BC> reflected in the languages for which XML-RPC implementations BC> are available: Java, Python, Perl, PHP, etc. By contrast, BC> CORBA is designed for application usage. This is why I sort of BC> immediately invision CORBA as being better suited for use for BC> Piper. Hmm... I think I agree with your conclusions, but not your assessment (i.e. I think considering CORBA is definitely the right approach, but I'm not sure if the logic you used is a good argument :-). BC> I don't know if speed is really an issue many people know much BC> about yet. There was a big argument on comp.object.corba about BC> SOAP versus CORBA speed issues, and it seemed like most of the BC> discussions was more opinions and not hard facts. XML-RPC and BC> SOAP are relatively new (compared to CORBA), so it is BC> difficult to say how well they will scale right now. But I BC> guess I can't really say that XML based protocols are slower BC> than IIOP. I think you probably can say that they are slower, just from a "non-compressed, plus parse-tree needed" point of view. BC> You are right, XML-RPC is probably simpler to start with, but BC> as you mention, it is hard to say how it will keep this BC> simplicity as an application grows. Although CORBA is big and BC> harder to get into at first, I think it contains tons of hooks BC> for just about every situtation, which might make it BC> ultimately simpler over time. Hard to say, I guess. Exactly. BC> Yeah, I don't think the whole situation has been completely BC> hashed out on the list. CORBA and XML based communication BC> protocols seem to me to be "somewhat" interchangable. They are. We (you) could provide an XML-RPC interface, without too much difficulty (probably would take time to think it through, though...). BC> personal preference has played the largest role in choosing BC> CORBA for the communication protocol for Piper. I guess the BC> largest voice against CORBA has been because of the learning BC> curve to get started with it. However, I have found it really BC> nice for development (very flexible to API changes etc), so BC> once you are over the learning curve, it can be very nice. I have to agree with this (all of the statements above). best, -tony -- A.J. Rossini Research Assistant Professor of Biostatistics Biostatistics/Univ. of Washington (Th) Box 357232 206-543-1044 (3286=fax) Center for AIDS Research/HMC/UW (M/F) Box 359931 206-731-3647 (3693=fax) VTN/SCHARP/FHCRC (Tu/W) Box 358080 206-667-7025 (4812=fax) rossini@(biostat.washington.edu|u.washington.edu|scharp.org) http://www.biostat.washington.edu/~rossini