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