{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.023411371237458192, 'fraction_numerical': 0.0, 'mean_word_length': 4.657210401891253, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Ubiquitous Computing Uncorked

Sun hopes to make Jini the center of the network universe. The dust has begun to settle since the fanfare surrounding the January release of Jini, Sun's architecture for creating seamless, " spontaneous networking " of devices. Two things have become clearer: how much is at stake if Jini obtains its goal of widespread adoption, and the enormity of the obstacles standing in its way. Jini must carve out a niche for itself in an IT world that already has several distributed object computing platforms. Sun has the advantage of leading the pack in the consumer and embedded market, but that window of opportunity is closing fast as Microsoft prepares to release its own version of the technology. If Jini takes hold in the embedded device market it just might be able to " trickle up " to the enterprise and effect the long-heralded paradigm shift from the PC to the network. If it fails, the network , like the desktop, will likely see the world through Windows for some time to come. A device is a device is a device, at least according to Jini. This Java-based distributed architecture lets PDAs talk to printers, computers to cameras—any device can talk to any other device, no matter how remote its location, as long they both have a microprocessor , a network connection, and Jini. Jini allows devices to simply plug in, announce their arrival on the network, and then instantly be able to both offer their services and use other services already on the network. The goal is ease of use, and Jini achieves this by eliminating the need for users to install device drivers for each service. When a device enters a network it registers itself with Jini's central organizing mechanism, the Lookup Service. The lookup service functions like a bulletin board, but it also maps the functionality of each service to sets of objects that implement the service. Devices need only announce their request to the lookup service, which locates the service on the network and sends back a Java object. The client communicates with the object, which contains the service's attributes, necessary protocols, and code. This ability to move code around the network is what Jini's chief engineer, Jim Waldo, says is one of the technology's most important distinguishing features. " There really isn't any other distributed object system that allows you to move code for the …