CS2.0 Alpha
Started: 2003-02-05 20:31:59
Submitted: 2003-02-05 20:53:18
Visibility: World-readable
I'm sufficiently confident about the functionality of my Content Solutions 2.0 release (which I've dubbed the beta release) that I'm going to throw it out to the world for everyone to poke at and laugh endlessly at my code for amusement value. The ambitious ones may even get bored enough to implement this code on their own webpages. (Good luck.) I have implemented a central server on festing.org and enough code to synchronize between it and my webpage running on Ziyal.
Basically, CS2 is a database-replication system that is designed to be decentralized. The central server is responsible for assigning ids to each headline, but each node can function independently for an extended period of time, communicating individually with the other nodes. Each headline is uniquely identified by an individually-assigned id, which must be positive and increasing for all new content but can be independent between different sites, and a globally-unique increasing id assigned by the central server.
Whenever the individual website nodes create new content, they should insert it into their local CS2 database and send an XML document enclosed in an HTTP request to the central server. To ensure data integrity, the website must authenticate itself with a password, which is stored encrypted in the master database and not distributed to the clients, before inserting headlines. Reading data without a password is currently allowed. The server will insert it into its database and assign it a unique id, and send back to the node an XML document containing all new headlines since the id specified by the node. The individual nodes should query their local database to determine what headlines are current or relevant to a certain date.
I envision a similar system for chatter, which I will probably implement in the next several days.
I look forward to your flames, comments, suggestions, and spam regarding this quantum leap in Content Solutions.
about getting a girlfriend] is that the intended outcome relies on
variables which are out of my control. It's a matter of chance,
luck, being in the right place at the wrong time, what have you.
Obviously, it also relies on the willful participation of
another human being. Since the only people we control are
ourselves, making resolutions -- promises to ourselves -- which
require the involvement of others, who may or may not want any
part of the game, is like sitting at home and cheering a
football team, and then saying "We won! We won!" when in fact
you had absolutely nothing to do with any of it. Or something
like that.
- Bitscape, Random Rambling, 01 August 2000
