Re: Suggestions for custom application-layer protocol?

From: Jonathan Bartlett (johnnyb_at_eskimo.com)
Date: 05/25/05 

Date: Wed, 25 May 2005 12:54:33 -0400

> I want the protocol to be text based rather than binary since the data
> throughput is low.

If the throughput is low, binary would be better.

For example, "1.0000236" is four bytes in binary, but 10 bytes as text.

   I also want the protocol to be based on TCP/IP. Does
> anyone here have any suggestions on the design of a simple protocol? Are
> there simple, standard ways of formatting text messages to be sent over a
> TCP socket (such as comma-separated)?

Read the HTTP protocol. If you really want text-based, HTTP is probably
the way to go. My suggestion would be just to use CORBA, since it maps
easily into most languages, has a binary representation, and is fairly
standard.

> I would prefer to avoid the
> complexities of XML.

What sort of complexities do you wish to avoid? Most of these
complexities exist with all text-based messages. With XML you have the
advantage that you don't have to write your own parser.

> Any suggestions or pointers to further reading are much appreciated.

Use CORBA. There are lots of good, free ORBs, including MICO, TAO, and
ORBit. There are also some Java ORBs.

Jon 

----
Learn to program using Linux assembly language
http://www.cafeshops.com/bartlettpublish.8640017

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