Re: [school-discuss] ZIS Server (was: Project Proposal)

[Tonnesen Steve <tonnesen@cmsd.bc.ca>]

On Tue, 22 Jan 2002, Chris Hobbs wrote:

> As much as I love perl, I would strongly recommend writing such a 
> project in a compiled language - this server would be the backend server 
> for several very intensive clients (gradebooks, student admin systems, 
> library systems, cafeteria systems, single logon facilities, etc.) - in 
> even a moderate sized school/district, this will be a very busy server, 
> and speed is going to be critical.
> 
> I would recommend C (or C++, as this seems like a good problem to break 
> down into objects).

I agree with this, although my C programming skills are definitely not up
to it.  I'll poke around with Perl for a bit, if for no other reason than
just to figure out what is needed.  If somebody else wants to do this in
C++, please step forward now.  :)  As far as demand goes, don't forget
that this machine isn't actually _generating_ any of this data, it is just
passing messages back and forth between other applications.  I don't
suspect that speed of the ZIS server is going to be as critical as you
might think.  Using mod_perl should solve any latency problems inherent to
perl startup times.  According to the SIF Specifications, all applications
have to be willing to wait indefinitely for results.  Of course, we all
know that _users_ are another kettle of fish.  :) 

Steve.