Distributed Information System
DIS is a distributed information system that will provide a new way for people, or devices, to publish and access informations, or services, distributed all over the internet ... and beyond. Note: DIS is pronounced as 'this' but with a 'd' instead of 'th'.
DIS provides a synergy of existing internet services by eliminating their functional overlap, pushing back their limits and filling gaps. DIS is very versatile and evolutive with built-in support for security. DIS uses its own protocol and data representation respectively named DITP and IDR and provides core services that will be presented later.
It started as a simple intellectual entertainment to see how one could solve limitations of existing internet services or extend their capabilities. It turned into an edifying hobby once a potentially valid and general solution emerged. The design is now mature and stable enough to build a prototype as proof of concep that should be released soon.
The logo is inspired from the UVG120 grid, invented by Dr. Bethe Hagens, where the vertices of a dodecahedron and an icosahedron are mapped on a sphere. The design is the work of Johan Vinet (grafXtory).
Distributed Information Transfer Protocol
DITP is the protocol used to communicate in DIS. It is very versatile and can support many different communication and security models. Its versatility provides also evolutivity as well as backward compatibility. DITP is alternate protocol friendly by supporting raw data tunneling. These properties result from using the object oriented model at the protocol level.
Authentication, ACLs and privacy are a fundamental and mandatory requirement for a modern distributed information system to be used on internet. For this purpose DIS has its own certificates. They support inheritance and polymorphism with object aggregates and single or multiple signatures.
Information Data Representation
IDR is the data encoding convention used across DIS. It is to DIS what xml is to the web. It is used in DITP and to encode any DIS published and retrieved information. XML or other encodings may still be used but only as opaque data.
IDR encoding is in binary to benefit from a direct mapping with native data representation. This choice was made in provision to use IDR with hand held or embedded devices.
IDR is a streaming oriented encoding as opposed to message oriented encoding. This avoids message generation latency and its associated greedy memory needs. A 32KB buffer is all you need to serialize any type and amount of data.
These encoding properties is what makes DITP a low latency and memory frugal communication protocol.