Internet Communications Engine
 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification.(February 2009) |
| Developer(s) | ZeroC |
|---|---|
| Stable release | 3.7.10
/ November 7, 2023 |
| Repository | |
| Platform | Cross-platform |
| Type | Remote procedure callframework |
| License | GPL/ Proprietary |
| Website | zeroc |
TheInternet Communications Engine,orIce,is anopen-sourceRPCframework developed byZeroC.It providesSDKsforC++,C#,Java,JavaScript,MATLAB,Objective-C,PHP,Python,RubyandSwift,and can run on various operating systems, includingLinux,Windows,macOS,iOSandAndroid.[1]
Ice implements a proprietaryapplication layercommunications protocol, called the Ice protocol, that can run overTCP,TLS,UDP,WebSocketandBluetooth.[2][3]As its name indicates, Ice can be suitable for applications that communicate over the Internet, and includes functionality for traversingfirewalls.
History[edit]
Initially released in February 2003,[4]Ice was influenced by theCommon Object Request Broker Architecture(CORBA) in its design, and indeed was created by several influential CORBA developers, includingMichi Henning.However, according to ZeroC, it was smaller and less complex than CORBA because it was designed by a small group of experienced developers, instead of suffering fromdesign by committee.[5]
In 2004, it was reported that a game called "Wish" by a company named Mutable Realms used Ice.[6] In 2008, it was reported thatBig Bear Solar Observatoryhad used the software since 2005.[7] The source code repository for Ice is onGitHubsince May 2015.[8]
Components[edit]
Ice components include object-oriented remote-object-invocation, replication, grid-computing, failover, load-balancing, firewall-traversals and publish-subscribe services. To gain access to those services, applications are linked to a stub library or assembly, which is generated from a language-independentIDL-like syntax calledslice.
IceStorm[edit]
is an object-oriented publish-and-subscribe framework that also supports federation and quality-of-service. Unlike other publish-subscribe frameworks such asTibco Software'sRendezvousorSmartSockets,message content consist of objects of well defined classes rather than of structured text.
IceGrid[edit]
is a suite of frameworks that provide object-orientedload balancing,failover,object-discovery and registry services.
IcePatch[edit]
facilitates the deployment of ICE-based software. For example, a user who wishes to deploy new functionality and/or patches to several servers may use IcePatch.
Glacier[edit]
is aproxy-based service to enable communication through firewalls, thus making ICE an internetcommunication engine.
IceBox[edit]
Icebox is aservice-oriented architecturecontainer of executable services implemented in.dllor.so libraries. This is a lighter alternative to building entire executable for every service.
Slice[edit]
Slice is a ZeroC-proprietary file format that programmers follow to edit computer-language independent declarations and definitions of classes, interfaces, structures and enumerations. Slice definition files are used as input to the stub generating process. The stub in turn is linked to applications and servers that should communicate with one another based on interfaces and classes as declared/defined by the slice definitions.
Apart from CORBA, classes and interfaces support inheritance and abstract classes. In addition, slice provides configuration options in form of macros and attributes to direct the code generation process. An example is the directive to generate a certainSTLlist<double>template instead of the default, which is to generate a STLvector<double>template.
See also[edit]
Notes[edit]
- ^"Ice - Comprehensive RPC Framework".zeroc.com.Retrieved2018-04-27.
- ^"Ice - Comprehensive RPC Framework".zeroc.com.Retrieved2019-02-08.
- ^"Does ICE uses any http protocol for communication".ZeroC.Retrieved2019-08-13.
- ^Laukien, Marc."Project: The Internet Communications Engine".ZeroC Forums.Retrieved16 January2021.
- ^"Differences between Ice and CORBA".Archived fromthe originalon March 18, 2013.RetrievedJuly 17,2013.
- ^Michi Henning (February 1, 2004)."Massively Multiplayer Middleware".Queue.ACM.RetrievedJuly 17,2013.
- ^Sergij Shumko (November 2, 2008)."Ice middleware in the New Solar Telescope's Telescope Control System"(PDF).Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems XVII, ASP Conference Series, Vol. XXX, 2008.Quebec City, Canada. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on August 25, 2012.RetrievedJuly 17,2013.
- ^Normier, Bernard."Ice has moved to GitHub!".ZeroC Forums.Retrieved8 February2019.