IceT: Distributed Computing and Java

Metacomputing, or distributed processing on networks (local networks, intranets, or the Internet), has re-emerged as a technology with tremendous promise and potential, owing in part to the emergence of the Java language and programming system. Java both influences and is influenced by the requisite and dynamic aspects of network programming. However, its viability as a programming language for the scientific community is yet to be established. This paper describes IceT, a novel framework for collaborative and highperformance distributed computing which has been built upon a Java substrate. The IceT system exploits the portability and scripting advantages of Java and incorporates well established distributed and concurrent computing techniques into the framework, while retaining the ability to access specialized processing capabilities and precompiled code. The result is a dynamic and efficient distributed computing environment upon which data and processes are highly portable amongst ..