Grit's Glossary

C

• channel
  an abstract place clients can join in order to exchange data. It is identified by a symbolic name.
• client

  D

• distributed
  physically or logically spread across a number of processing units. A distributed system consists of processing units and communication links between them.

  E

• entity
  a somewhat autonomous part of a protocol, often implemented as a UNIX process or a program module.
• event
  a certain action or happening caused by a client, often within the context of a channel. For example: a client saying some text, a client performing an action or a client changing its nickname, or a client sending a private message to another client.

  L

• link
  a network connection between two nodes, regardless of the type of network.

  N

• node
  a process on a computer that is running software compliant to the World Wide Conferencing Protocol.

  P

• peer (entity)
  (an entity) at the same protocol layer (eg. at NIL, MCAST, SERVER layer)
• protocol a set of (formal) agreements on how to exchange data, in order to provide a certain (formal) service.
  

  Q

• Quality of Service
  

  R

• real-time
  having timing constraints related to the true, physical time. "Real-time" should be read as "soft-realtime", as no hard deadlines have to be met. Only implicit, ergonomically determined constraints are posed.

  S

• server
  an instantiation (code and data) of the Server Layer of a WWCP node.
• service
  the possibilities for interaction between a service user and the entity offering the service. The service is what is visible and accessible from the outside of a protocol entity (see Visser).
• service primitives
  primitive interaction occurences which together build up a certain service. A service primitive can have several parameters, some valued, other offering a domain of possible values (see Visser).