Tuesday, December 9, 2014

CL,I,P,O,N

A nightmare of confusion.

Recent time with Clique Space(TM) has dragged me into the dependency nightmare that is Java generics; a nightmare from which I might be awakening.

Clique Space code comes in two halves. The chassis is the basic Clique Space data structure definitions and implementation of functionality in relation to the sending and receiving of transmitters while the top half is the body of the specific implementation of a Clique Space aware device.

The halves are separated by a set of parameterised types that make the cute acronym disclosed in the title of this blog entry. The specific device implementation's body "clips on" to the generic chassis. Hence, the chassis defines these generic parameters, and the body completes their implementation. The terms used in the acronym are as follows:
  • CL - The basic Clique structure and mechanisms contained therein.
  • I - The Identity structure and mechanisms contained therein.
  • P - The basic Participant structure and mechanisms contained therein.
  • O - A more specific Participant structure relating to Owner Participants of synapses and involvements.
  • N - A more specific Participant structure relating to non-Owner Participants of synapses and involvements.
The acronym using the first three of these parameterisations has been around for a while. The final two types needed to be added to or "clipped on" the end of the fist three because I wanted a way to discriminate between the Owner and non-Owner Participants of a synapse or a service or viscera as involvements. One of the prime benefits of using generics is that one can check types at compile time, thereby reducing the size of one's code (not having to guard run time type casting) and ensuring one's code has fewer bugs.

Hence, these extra two types (O and N) are used to ensure that an Owner Participant is returned where an Owner Particpant is expected and a non-Owner Participant is likewise returned when expected. This type of discrimination is important in cases where structures derived from the basic Clique (the synapse, the service, and the viscera) are being manipulated. These specific Clique structures have extra functionality because this extra functionality helps a Clique space do the things I intend it to do.

A thing of beauty.

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

The Viscera and the Service

I explained the function of the viscera here, so I will dispense another explanation in this entry and explain what the service is. I'll then contrast the two.

The service, like the viscera, is a Clique. Unlike the viscera, it is strictly a bipartite Clique; the owner is always an Agent Device, and the other member is an external device (which could be a View device like an administrator client which is able to view or persist Clique Space activity). External devices cannot participate in viscera because they are not Agent Devices. Agent Devices are the only type of Clique Space aware device that manifest the functionality necessary to participate in viscera; Agent Devices are the neurons of a Clique Space.

Although services are not synapses (synapses are another type of bipartite Clique) they are used where synapses connect an Agent Device with a View device. A set of synapses do not connect an Agent Device to any other type of external device other than a View device. Hence, external devices that lack a View capability are known simply as drones.

A service implements a connection between an Agent Device and some type of external device, whether that device be a View device or a drone. All external devices siphon their state into a Clique Space and accept commands from a Clique Space through one or more Agent Devices through which each device shares a service.

The basic service represents the aggregate mechanism of exchange between an Agent Device and an external device that exists beyond the synapse mechanism that Clique Space aware devices use to share information. The service may define an interface known as a service delegate which defines how external device information is exchanged between the external device and its connected Agent Device. Services are strictly bipartite because they represent the mechanism of exchange between one external device instance and the Agent Device instance that serves it.

An Agent Device can stop serving a drone by simply disbanding the associated service, while more specifically for a View device, the connected Agent Device must also disband the associated inbound and outbound synapses.

A service is not a viscera. To lightly go over that which has already been explained, a viscera is a Clique that represents all the Agent Devices that contribute to the manifestation of a Clique Space. A viscera is multipartite, and can theoretically contain an unlimited number of participants.

However, a service is a viscera in a subtle but crucial way. Just as every Agent Device obtains a non owner visceral participant to be a member of a viscera, an external device must obtain a non owner service Participant to be counted as a member of a service. This symmetry is very handy because it allows many of the mechanisms of Agent Device - Agent Device engagement to be used in Agent Device - View device engagement. The convenience of this symmetry also appears to confirm that I remain onto a real possibility with this Clique Space thing.