Distributed computing and Java go together naturally. As the firstlanguage designed from the bottom up with networking in mind, Javamakes it very easy for computers to cooperate. Even the simplestapplet running in a browser is a distributed application, if you thinkabout it. The client running the browser downloads and executes codethat is delivered by some other system. But even this simple appletwouldn't be possible without Java's guarantees of portability andsecurity: the applet can run on any platform, and can't sabotage itshost.

Of course, when we think of distributed computing, we usually think ofapplications more complex than a client and server communicating withthe same protocol. We usually think in terms of programs that makeremote procedure calls, access remote databases, and collaborate withothers to produce a single result. Java Distributed Computingdiscusses how to design and write such applications. It coversJava's RMI (Remote Method Invocation) facility and CORBA,but it doesn't stop there; it tells you how to design your ownprotocols to build message passing systems and discusses how to useJava's security facilities, how to write multithreaded servers, andmore. It pays special attention to distributed data systems,collaboration, and applications that have high bandwidth requirements.

In the future, distributed computing can only become more important.Java Distributed Computing provides a broad introduction to theproblems you'll face and the solutions you'll find as you writedistributed computing applications.

Topics covered in Java Distributed Computing:

• Introduction to Distributed Computing
• Networking Basics
• Distributed Objects (Overview of CORBA and RMI)
• Threads
• Security
• Message Passing Systems
• Distributed Data Systems (Databases)
• Bandwidth Limited Applications
• Collaborative Systems