Network Distributed Computing: Fitscapes and Fallacies

Foreword

Our notion of network computing is changing. We don't go to a single machine hoping that it can meet our needs. We use collaborating federations of sometimes invisible computers to access the services we want. As the network changes from client-server to multitier to interacting stacks of multitier networks and beyond, the way we interact with it also changes. Where once a single access point was the entrance to a particular network, the fractal future networks promise that every machine is an edge of a heterogeneous network without an easily defined boundary.

This book on Network Distributed Computing (NDC) isn't a destination—it too is an edge. It is a node in a fascinating ongoing discussion and discovery process. It is an entry point ...