An object-oriented framework for client/server applications

When developing high-level accelerator applications it is often necessary to perform extensive calculations to generate a data set that will be used as an input for other applications. Depending on the size and complexity of these computations, regenerating the interim data sets can introduce errors or otherwise negatively impact system perform. By generating these computational data sets in advance and updating them from changes in the accelerator, we can substantially reduce the time required to perform subsequent calculations. UNIX server applications are well suited to accommodate this need by providing a centralized repository for data or computational power. Because of the inherent difficulty in writing a robust server application, the development of the network conununications software is often more burdensome than the computational engine. To simplify the task of building a client/server application, we have developed an object-oriented server shell which hides the complexity of the network software development from the programmer. This document will discuss how to implement a complete client/server application using this C++ class library with a minimal understanding of network communications mechanisms.