org.jcsp.net
Class AbstractID

java.lang.Object
  org.jcsp.net.AbstractID

All Implemented Interfaces:

Serializable

Direct Known Subclasses:

ApplicationID, DomainID, GlobalID, NodeID

public abstract class AbstractID
extends Object
implements Serializable

This is an abstract class that is sub-classed by classes whose instances should represent some kind of identifier and be part of a hierarchy of AbstractID objects.

This class has no public or protected constructor so it may not be sub-classed by JCSP users. JCSP.NET defines four implementations of this class; ApplicationID, NodeID, DomainID and GlobalID.

An ApplicationID object identifies a JCSP application. A JCSP Application is formed of a process network initiated at a particular Node, but processes launched on a remote Node may also be part of the same application. The parent AbstractIDApplicationID objects are NodeID objects.

A NodeID object identifies a particular JCSP Node. A JCSP Node is a Java Virtual Machine that has been initialized to form part of a JCSP.NET network. The parent AbstractIDNodeID objects are DomainID objects.

A DomainID object represents a domain of JCSP Nodes. Node Domains are not presently implemented but this class is included for completeness. In the future, it is envisaged that domain controllers will be introduced. At present, all NodeID objects have a parent DomainID equal to the Null Domain (this has a zero length string name).

A GlobalID object represents the global Node domain. This includes all domains, their sub-domains, and all Nodes within sub-domains. There only ever needs to be a single instance of this class. The parent of the Null Domain is a GlobalID object.

Author:

Quickstone Technologies Limited

See Also:

Serialized Form

Method Summary

abstract AbstractID

getParentID() Returns this instance's parent AbstractID object.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

Method Detail

getParentID

public abstract AbstractID getParentID()

Returns this instance's parent AbstractID object.

Returns:

the parent AbstractID of this object.