Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

E-Speak and XML-RPC

Author:Eric Kidd
Posted:12/19/1999; 8:32:37 AM
Topic:e-speak - open sourced...
Msg #:13720 (In response to 13639)
Prev/Next:13719 / 13721

(My e-mail address is now eric.kidd@pobox.com.)

Is e-speak a competitor to xml-rpc?

Not really. Both involve RPC, but that's about it. XML-RPC is "just" RPC--it's easier to implement than CORBA or DCOM, and more portable than networked Apple Events.

E-speak is one of those esoteric coporate toys. If you don't work for somebody who owns a mainframe, you probably won't grok it. I've read all the documentation, compiled the example programs and still don't have much of a clue. Take the following with a grain of salt.

E-Speak is a little bit like CORBA, a little bit like Jini and a little bit like a distributed database. It combines a fairly decent RPC mechanism with lots of tools for locating (and purchasing) services over the network. You can browse the available services like a database table, you can form queries, and you can even pay third-party objects to assemble deals for you. You can, of course, define new types of services and new APIs for talking to objects. E-Speak includes an Interface Definition Language (IDL) for RPC, and a number of XML document types to define other things.

Right now, E-speak is Java-specific. In the future, HP wants to support Perl and other common scripting languages. The protocols are open, and look fairly decent. HP has decided to give away the core of E-speak in hopes of creating an open standard.

HP's marketing division is positioning E-speak as the ultimate e-commerce tool. (It's nice, but it's still unfinished--and not quite as impressive as the salescritters claim it to be.) In particular, HP wants to use E-speak for business-to-business commerce. They keep on talking about more efficient purchasing systems.

As I said, take this explanation with a grain of salt.

Cheers,
Eric

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