The gSOAP Toolkit for Web Services and Peer-to-Peer Computing Networks

This paper presents the gSOAP stub and skeleton compiler. The compiler provides a unique SOAP-to-C/C++ language binding for deploying C/C++ applications in SOAP Web Services, clients, and peer-to-peer computing networks. gSOAP enables the integratation of (legacy) C/C++/Fortran codes, embedded systems, and real-time software in Web Services, clients, and peers that share computational resources and information with other SOAP-enabled applications, possibly across different platforms, language environments, and disparate organizations located behind firewalls. Results on interoperability, legacy code integration, scalability, and performance are given.

1. Introduction

Many recent efforts in distributed computing are aimed at developing general-purpose distributed computing infrastructures, providing integrated security, availability, scalability, reliability, and manageability for general distributed computing applications. Examples of infrastructures exploring general distributed computing are Charlotte [1], Javalin/Javalin++ [13], [14], HARNESS [2], Legion [10], and Globus [7]. These infrastructures address the technologies needed to build computational grids [8]. Grids are persistent environments that enable software applications to integrate instruments, displays, computational and information resources that are managed by diverse organizations.