Pattern-Oriented Software Architecture: A Pattern Language for Distributed Computing, 4th Volume

About This Book

Distributed computing is connecting the world and leveling playing fields [Fri06]. The ubiquity of the Web and e-commerce today exemplify a common motivation for distributed computing: the ability to connect to and access vast quantities of geographically dispersed information and services. The popularity of instant messaging and chat rooms on the Internet underscores another common motivation: staying connected to family, friends, colleagues, and customers. Other motivators for distributed computing include enhancing performance, scalability, and fault tolerance, as well as reducing costs by sharing expensive hardware and peripherals.

Given the importance of distributed computing in our professional and personal lives, many patterns in the software literature focus on this topic [POSA1] [POSA2] [POSA3] [Lea99] [VSW02] [VKZ04] [HoWo03] [PLoPD1] [PLoPD2] [PLoPD3] [PLoPD4] [PLoPD5]. Unfortunately, many of these patterns are described in relative isolation, referencing few other patterns, most of which are in the same publication. Despite the utility of each individual pattern, there is no holistic view of distributed computing that emphasizes how relevant patterns complete and complement each other. Building complex distributed systems therefore remains largely a dark art mastered only by a few wizards and gurus.

To provide a more holistic view, this book—the fourth volume of the Pattern-Oriented Software Architecture (POSA) series—describes a single pattern language ...