netty5/src/docbook/module/preface.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE preface PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN" "http://www.docbook.org/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd" [
<!ENTITY home "http://www.jboss.org/netty">
<!ENTITY doc  "http://www.jboss.org/file-access/default/members/netty/freezone">
<!ENTITY api  "&doc;/api/3.0">
<!ENTITY xref "&doc;/xref/3.0">
]>
<preface id="preface">
  <title>Preface</title>
  <para>
    The most fundamental question, <quote>What is Netty and why should I
    care?</quote>, will be answered here.
  </para>
  
  <section>
    <title>The Problem</title>
    <para>
      We are using a general purpose application or library to communicate
      with each other nowadays.  For example, we often use an open source
      HTTP client library to retrieve information from an open source web
      server and to invoke a remote procedure call via web services.
    </para>
    <para>
      However, a general purpose protocol or its implementation sometimes 
      doesn't scale very well.  It's like we don't use a general purpose
      HTTP server to exchange huge files, e-mail messages, and near-realtime
      messages such as financial information and multiplayer game data.
      What's required is a highly optimized protocol implementation which is
      dedicated to a special purpose.  For example, you might want to
      implement an HTTP server which is optimized for AJAX-based chat
      application.  You could even want to design and implement a whole new
      protocol which is precisely tailored to your need.
    </para>
    <para>
      Another inevitable case is when you have to deal with a legacy
      proprietary protocol to ensure the interoperability with an old system.
      What matters in this case is how quickly we can implement that protocol
      while not sacrificing the stability and performance of the resulting
      application.
    </para>
  </section>
  
  <section>
    <title>The Solution</title>
    <para>
      <firstterm><ulink url="http://www.jboss.org/netty/">The Netty
      project</ulink></firstterm> is an effort to provide an asynchronous
      &middot; event-driven network application framework and tooling for the
      rapid development of maintainable high-performance &middot;
      high-scalability protocol servers and clients.  To simplify, Netty helps
      you write your own network application very easily -- it's often called
      <firstterm>rapid network application development</firstterm>.
    </para>
    <para>
      Rapid network application development doesn't mean that a resulting
      application will suffer from a maintainability or a performance issue.
      Netty has been designed carefully with the experiences earned from 
      the implementation of a lot of protocols such as FTP, SMTP, HTTP, and
      various binary and text-based legacy protocols.  As a result, Netty
      has succeeded to find a way to achieve ease of development,
      performance, stability, and flexibility without a compromise.
    </para>
    <para>
      Some of you might already have found other network application
      framework that claims to have the same advantage, and you might want
      to ask what makes Netty so different from them.  The answer is the
      philosophy where it is built on.  It's designed to give you the most
      comfortable experience both in terms of the API and the implementation
      from the day one.  It's not something tangible but you will get to
      realize that this philosophy will make your life much easier as you
      read this guide on and play with Netty. 
    </para>
  </section>
</preface>