23rd IEEE International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems (ICDCS'03)
NRMI: Natural and Efficient Middleware
Providence, Rhode Island
May 19-May 22
ISBN: 0-7695-1920-2
We present NRMI: a drop-in replacement of Java RMI that offers call-by-copy-restore semantics for arbitrary linked data structures, in addition to regular call-by-copy semantics. Call-by-copy-restore middleware is more natural to use than traditional call-by-copy RPC mechanisms, enabling distributed calls to behave much like local calls. We discuss in depth the effect of calling semantics for middleware, describe how call-by-copy-restore can be implemented efficiently, and show examples of Java programs where NRMI is more convenient than regular Java RMI.