Re: Java applet and OWS

Chris_at_pandion.u-net.com (Christopher Yearsley) writes:

> I find it hard to believe that given the great size and complexity of Oracle's
> Web server V3, Oracle make nothing to connect a Java applet to their database!
> Is this _really_ the case?

This may well be the case. As I understand it, the main goal of the OWS (WAS?) is to provide a *backend* or server-side infrastructure. It seems that even the http server itself is so `peripheral' that it can easily be replaced with a different one. Once a web page is out of OWS' reach, that is, delivered to the client, this page and all that is in it has no special advantages for database access.

> I'm struggling to see the point of OWS at all. Why not just Apache and a JDBC
> driver? Junk not just the 'web listener' but the Web Application Server too?

Web cartridges have some advantages when connecting to databases (Oracle's), they are kept active for one. This is good for performance especially on NT. A second reason for OWS would be that invocation of remote cartridges is possible in 3.0 (they're invoked through a -- not-yet-documented -- iiop). In the more distant future Oracle promised to incorporate Visigenic's corba server. If this were actually done, then Java clients could directly invoke web server cartridges' services trough corba - voila client-side database access.

> Yes, PL/SQL in the web server, but I'm happy with PRO*C so why not use that?
> Yes, there's Java in the server too, but supporting Java in the server
> _and_not_the_client_ seems bizarre to me.

There is no reason why you could not mimic all these functions with already existing tools. The point of the OWS seems to be that you don't have to. If you still want to junk it, have a look at Netscape's servers and their facilities for server-side computing.

> I still think I must be missing something obvious here. What _is_ the point of
> OWS?
Please note that I am struggling with these questions myself, and this is what I have found so far. I am not connected to Oracle.

> --
> Chris Yearsley
> Chris_at_pandion.u-net.com

Marc Received on Wed Mar 19 1997 - 00:00:00 CET