[ome-devel] Ice vs. GlassFish

[Curtis Rueden]

Hi Gus,

> My initial response after speaking to other members of the OME Team is
> that Glassfish is Java-only, while Ice allows components to be written
> in different languages on both the client and server. e.g. Python,
> C++, in addition to Java.

Indeed. I think the issue is less about application servers (GlassFish,
JBoss, etc.) and more about cross-language client-server interoperability.
AFAIK, GlassFish does not have an IDL at all, which is something OMERO
really leans on heavily.

Other options besides ZeroC Ice could be Apache Thrift [1], or maybe with
more effort Hessian [2] or Protocol Buffers [3] (these latter two are not
trying to do as much, so more supporting infrastructure would be needed).
But Ice, despite it being such a PITA in many ways, is also very powerful
and performant. And at this point OMERO is *very* well-tested with it.

I'm sure Josh and/or Chris has much more insight and experience with this
issue... :-)

Regards,
Curtis

[1] http://thrift.apache.org/
[2] http://hessian.caucho.com/
[3] https://code.google.com/p/protobuf/


On Fri, Aug 2, 2013 at 9:27 AM, Gus Ferguson <r.k.ferguson at dundee.ac.uk>wrote:

> Hi
>
> The following comments have been passed on by a OMERO user who is working
> hard to promote the adoption of OMERO at his institute.
>
> > One of the arguments of our colleagues developing WIDE (an alternative
> to OMERO) is that OMERO is based on Ice.
> >
> > According to them, this technology is old, not mainstream and making
> OMERO depending on it. They use Java GlassFish, according to them much
> better. Could you, or someone around comment of this?
> >
> > I don't know the differences and every time I don't have arguments to
> defend one or the other technology.
>
> My initial response after speaking to other members of the OME Team is
> that Glassfish is Java-only, while Ice allows components to be written in
> different languages on both the client and server. e.g. Python, C++, in
> addition to Java.
>
> The issues were considered 5 years ago:
> http://trac.openmicroscopy.org.uk/ome/ticket/382, and Ice was chosen at
> the time.
>
> Josh - would you or any other developers care to comment further on this?
>
> Many thanks.
>
> Regards
> Gus
>
> *******************************
> Gus Ferguson
> OME UX Team
>
> rkferguson at dundee.ac.uk
> www.openmicroscopy.org
> *******************************
>
> The University of Dundee is a registered Scottish Charity, No: SC015096
>
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