More stuff in the user guide

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Trustin Lee 2009-04-10 03:16:37 +00:00
parent 87fd349c66
commit 2e88f7a108
3 changed files with 161 additions and 122 deletions

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@ -181,16 +181,56 @@
</section>
<section>
<title>Miscellaneous Constructs</title>
<title>Advanced Components for More Rapid Development</title>
<para>
On top of the core components mentioned above, that already enable the
implementation of all types of network applications, Netty provides a set
of advanced features to accelerate the development pace even more.
</para>
</section>
<section>
<title>Codec framework</title>
<para>
As demonstrated in <xref linkend="start.pojo"/>, it is always a good
idea to separate a protocol codec from a business logic. However, there
are some complications when implementing this idea from scratch. You
have to deal with the fragmentation of messages. Some protocols are a
multi-layered protocol built on top of other lower level protocol. Some
are too complicated to be implemented as a single state machine.
</para>
<para>
Consequently, a good network application framework should provide an
extensible, reusable, unit-testable, and multi-layered codec framework
that generates maintainable user codec.
</para>
<para>
Netty provides a number of fundamental and advanced codecs built on top
of the core to address most issues you will encounter when you write a
protocol codec regardless if it is simple or not, binary or text -
simply whatever.
</para>
</section>
<section>
<title>SSL / TLS Support</title>
<para>
</para>
</section>
<section>
<title>A View from the Feature Set Standpoint</title>
<para>
</para>
<section>
<title>HTTP Implementation</title>
<para>
</para>
</section>
<section>
<title>Google Protocol Buffer Integration</title>
<para>
</para>
</section>
</section>
<section>

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@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
%CustomDTD;
]>
<chapter id="buffer">
<title>ChannelBuffer</title>
<title>ChannelBuffer - Why and How</title>
<para>
As mentioned in <xref linkend="architecture"/>, Netty uses its own buffer
API instead of NIO <classname>ByteBuffer</classname> to represent a sequence
@ -13,108 +13,104 @@
augment its behavior at all. Netty's new buffer type, &ChannelBuffer; has
been designed from ground up to address the problems of
<classname>ByteBuffer</classname> and to meet the daily needs of network
application developers.
application developers. In this chapter, we will overview the features of
the new buffer API to explain what exactly it is good for.
</para>
<section>
<title>The Advantages of Using New Buffer API</title>
<title>Extensibility</title>
<para>
&ChannelBuffer; has rich set of operations optimized for rapid protocol
implementation. For example, &ChannelBuffer; provides various operations
for accessing unsigned values and strings and searching for certain byte
sequence in a buffer. You can also extend or wrap existing buffer type
to add convenient accessors. The custom buffer type still implements
&ChannelBuffer; interface rather than introducing an incompatible type.
</para>
<section>
<title>Extensibility</title>
<para>
&ChannelBuffer; has rich set of operations optimized for rapid protocol
implementation. For example, &ChannelBuffer; provides various operations
for accessing unsigned values and strings and searching for certain byte
sequence in a buffer. You can also extend or wrap existing buffer type
to add convenient accessors. The custom buffer type still implements
&ChannelBuffer; interface rather than introducing an incompatible type.
</para>
</section>
</section>
<section>
<title>Transparent Zero Copy</title>
<para>
To lift up the performance of a network application to the extreme,
you need to reduce the number of memory copy operation. You might
have a set of buffers that could be sliced and combined to compose
a whole message. Netty provides a composite buffer which allows you
to create a new buffer from the arbitrary number of existing buffers
with no memory copy. For example, a message could be composed of two
parts; header and body. In a modularized application, the two parts
could be produced by different modules and assembled later when the
message is sent out.
</para>
<programlisting>+--------+----------+
<section>
<title>Transparent Zero Copy</title>
<para>
To lift up the performance of a network application to the extreme,
you need to reduce the number of memory copy operation. You might
have a set of buffers that could be sliced and combined to compose
a whole message. Netty provides a composite buffer which allows you
to create a new buffer from the arbitrary number of existing buffers
with no memory copy. For example, a message could be composed of two
parts; header and body. In a modularized application, the two parts
could be produced by different modules and assembled later when the
message is sent out.
</para>
<programlisting>+--------+----------+
| header | body |
+--------+----------+</programlisting>
<para>
If <classname>ByteBuffer</classname> were used, you would have to
create a new big buffer and copy the two parts into the new
buffer. Alternatively, you can perform a gathering write operation
in NIO, but it restricts you to represent the composite of buffers
as an array of <classname>ByteBuffer</classname>s rather than a
single <classname>ByteBuffer</classname>, breaking the abstraction and
introducing complicated state management. Moreover, it's of no use if
you are not going to read or write from an NIO channel.
</para>
<programlisting>ByteBuffer[]<co id="example.buffer1.co1"/> message = new ByteBuffer[] { header, body };</programlisting>
<calloutlist>
<callout arearefs="example.buffer1.co1">
<para>
The composite is not a <classname>ByteBuffer</classname> anymore.
</para>
</callout>
</calloutlist>
<para>
By contrast, &ChannelBuffer; does not have such caveats because it is
fully extensible and has a built-in composite buffer type.
</para>
<programlisting>&ChannelBuffer;<co id="example.buffer2.co1"/> message = &Channels;.wrappedBuffer(header, body);
<para>
If <classname>ByteBuffer</classname> were used, you would have to
create a new big buffer and copy the two parts into the new
buffer. Alternatively, you can perform a gathering write operation
in NIO, but it restricts you to represent the composite of buffers
as an array of <classname>ByteBuffer</classname>s rather than a
single <classname>ByteBuffer</classname>, breaking the abstraction and
introducing complicated state management. Moreover, it's of no use if
you are not going to read or write from an NIO channel.
</para>
<programlisting>ByteBuffer[]<co id="example.buffer1.co1"/> message = new ByteBuffer[] { header, body };</programlisting>
<calloutlist>
<callout arearefs="example.buffer1.co1">
<para>
The composite is not a <classname>ByteBuffer</classname> anymore.
</para>
</callout>
</calloutlist>
<para>
By contrast, &ChannelBuffer; does not have such caveats because it is
fully extensible and has a built-in composite buffer type.
</para>
<programlisting>&ChannelBuffer;<co id="example.buffer2.co1"/> message = &Channels;.wrappedBuffer(header, body);
&ChannelBuffer;<co id="example.buffer2.co2"/> messageWithFooter = &Channels;.wrappedBuffer(message, footer);
messageWithFooter.getUnsignedInt(
messageWithFooter.readableBytes() - footer.readableBytes() - 1<co id="example.buffer2.co3"/>);</programlisting>
<calloutlist>
<callout arearefs="example.buffer2.co1">
<para>
The composite is always a &ChannelBuffer;. It is completely
transparent.
</para>
</callout>
<callout arearefs="example.buffer2.co2">
<para>
You can even create a composite by mixing an existing composite and
an ordinary buffer.
</para>
</callout>
<callout arearefs="example.buffer2.co3">
<para>
Because the composite is still a &ChannelBuffer;, you can access
its content easily, and the accessor method will behave just like
it's a single buffer even if the region you want to access spans
over multiple components. The unsigned integer being read here is
located across body and footer.
</para>
</callout>
</calloutlist>
</section>
<calloutlist>
<callout arearefs="example.buffer2.co1">
<para>
The composite is always a &ChannelBuffer;. It is completely
transparent.
</para>
</callout>
<callout arearefs="example.buffer2.co2">
<para>
You can even create a composite by mixing an existing composite and
an ordinary buffer.
</para>
</callout>
<callout arearefs="example.buffer2.co3">
<para>
Because the composite is still a &ChannelBuffer;, you can access
its content easily, and the accessor method will behave just like
it's a single buffer even if the region you want to access spans
over multiple components. The unsigned integer being read here is
located across body and footer.
</para>
</callout>
</calloutlist>
</section>
<section>
<title>Automatic Capacity Expansion</title>
<para>
Many protocols define variable length messages, which means there's no
way to determine the length of a message until you construct the
message or it is difficult and inconvenient to calculate the length
precisely. It is just like when you build a <classname>String</classname>.
You often estimate the length of the resulting string and let
<classname>StringBuffer</classname> to expand the capacity of its
internal buffer on demand. Netty allows you to do the same via
a <firstterm>dynamic</firstterm> buffer which is created by the
&Channels;<literal>.</literal><methodname>dynamicBuffer()</methodname>
method.
</para>
<programlisting>&ChannelBuffer;<co id="example.buffer3.co1"/> dynamicBuffer = &Channels;.dynamicBuffer(4);
<section>
<title>Automatic Capacity Expansion</title>
<para>
Many protocols define variable length messages, which means there's no
way to determine the length of a message until you construct the
message or it is difficult and inconvenient to calculate the length
precisely. It is just like when you build a <classname>String</classname>.
You often estimate the length of the resulting string and let
<classname>StringBuffer</classname> to expand the capacity of its
internal buffer on demand. Netty allows you to do the same via
a <firstterm>dynamic</firstterm> buffer which is created by the
&Channels;<literal>.</literal><methodname>dynamicBuffer()</methodname>
method.
</para>
<programlisting>&ChannelBuffer;<co id="example.buffer3.co1"/> dynamicBuffer = &Channels;.dynamicBuffer(4);
dynamicBuffer.writeByte('1');<co id="example.buffer3.co2"/>
dynamicBuffer.writeByte('2');
dynamicBuffer.writeByte('3');
@ -122,33 +118,36 @@ dynamicBuffer.writeByte('4');
dynamicBuffer.writeByte('5');<co id="example.buffer3.co3"/>
dynamicBuffer.writeByte('6');
dynamicBuffer.writeByte('7');</programlisting>
<calloutlist>
<callout arearefs="example.buffer3.co1">
<para>
A new dynamic buffer is created. Internally, the actual buffer
is created lazily to avoid potentially wasted memory space.
</para>
</callout>
<callout arearefs="example.buffer3.co3">
<para>
When the first write attempt is made, the internal buffer is created
with the specified initial capacity (4).
</para>
</callout>
<callout arearefs="example.buffer2.co3">
<para>
When the number of written bytes exceeds the initial capacity (4),
the internal buffer is reallocated automatically with a larger
capacity.
</para>
</callout>
</calloutlist>
</section>
<calloutlist>
<callout arearefs="example.buffer3.co1">
<para>
A new dynamic buffer is created. Internally, the actual buffer
is created lazily to avoid potentially wasted memory space.
</para>
</callout>
<callout arearefs="example.buffer3.co3">
<para>
When the first write attempt is made, the internal buffer is created
with the specified initial capacity (4).
</para>
</callout>
<callout arearefs="example.buffer3.co3">
<para>
When the number of written bytes exceeds the initial capacity (4),
the internal buffer is reallocated automatically with a larger
capacity.
</para>
</callout>
</calloutlist>
</section>
<section>
<title>Summary</title>
<title>Documentation in progress</title>
<para>
This user guide is still under construction and waiting for your feed
back. Any idea to improve the documentation is more than appreciated.
Please join us in the <ulink url="&Community;">community</ulink> now to
share your idea!
</para>
</section>
</chapter>

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@ -829,7 +829,7 @@ public class TimeDecoder extends &ReplayingDecoder;&lt;&VoidEnum;&gt; {
</section>
</section>
<section>
<section id="start.pojo">
<title>
Speaking in POJO instead of ChannelBuffer
</title>