Embla and the swift runner

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Pietry
Senior Member
Posts: 328
Joined: 04 Dec 2007, 07:25
Location: Bucharest
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Embla and the swift runner

Post by Pietry » 03 Mar 2009, 12:34

Today I tested Embla. Embla is a library that provides a complete ADC protocol implementation and it provides the services required for an application level program that will run over it, with no other protocol implementation. Basically, Embla goes on top of TCP in the OSI stack and beneath Application level, thus it provides a very simple interface for the developer for using ADC.

Embla was designed to work both as a base for a hub, and for a client. It uses the MINA library for the network I/O part and Simple Logging Facade for Java for the logging part. This gives Embla a solid part to base on. On top of that , here are some key features that I found while looking over it:
  • no need to worry about running ADC from scratch, Embla has all the functions required to get parameters, set parameters, command contexts and so on
  • no need to make Tiger hashes or anything, Embla supports them all with a single command, even non standard SHA1 extension
  • no need to implement extensions, Embla has almost all the known extension there are for ADC
  • on top of all, it even supports NMDC !
The biggest lack of Embla is the missing of any documentation. The source code is very clean but it's not too intuitive at first sight. The generating of a JavaDoc would be useful only to see what classes are there, the methods and classes are very poorly documented or not at all. This makes the developer using Embla a very patient man , and it will give a lot of headache.
Also, the readme for the compile process is very poor: it says you need MINA and SLF4J, but not even the place where to paste them, one needs to look in the build scripts to see where they should be.

A plus though, is that there is a sample program called embla-demo which exemplifies a connection to a hub. This example is the start point for a developer wanting to use Embla, because there is nothing else.

ADCPortal test conclusion is: Embla is a very powerful tool for the developers that makes the creation of hub or client with the least effort and time. The lack of documentation is the biggest minus and I think that's the reason it's keeping developers away from using it.
I think the advice we can give is obvious.

We want to thank Cyb for the effort he has put in Embla and we wish him good luck with his projects and hopefully improvement.

ADCPortal will continue to test software and provide quality information for you and for everyone visiting the website.
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CyB
Newbie
Posts: 1
Joined: 25 Nov 2008, 08:48

Re: Embla and the swift runner

Post by CyB » 03 Mar 2009, 14:52

Thank you for testing Embla. I will be create an user manual as soon as possible.

Toast

Re: Embla and the swift runner

Post by Toast » 03 Mar 2009, 16:34

Please do CyB so i can fill in RSS and SHA1 extensions at the wiki :)

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