MOVIE: Multitasking Object-oriented Visual Interactive Environment
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MOVIE: Multitasking Object-oriented Visual Interactive Environment

SUMMARY
MOVIE ( Multitasking Object-oriented Visual Interactive Environment ) is a interpretative operating environment for high performance distributed computing, used as the base implementation platform for the HPSIN modules under development at NPAC. The MOVIE System is a network of MOVIE servers -- interpreters of MovieScript. MovieScript is based on extended PostScript syntax and it provides a coherent set of scriptable high level computational primitives for HPCC, preemptive multithreading, distributed interprocess communication, object-oriented programming, interactive graphics and GUI prototyping. Developed in parallel with the focused HPSIN modules, MOVIE evolves towards an operating environment for televirtuality.

KEY CONTACTS
Geoffrey Fox | gcf@npac.syr.edu | 315-443-2163
Wojtek Furmanski | furm@npac.syr.edu | 315-443-3891
Janusz Niemiec | janusz@npac.syr.edu | 315-443-3190

OTHER COLLABORATORS
Chris Faigle, Tom Haupt, Patrick Hornberger, Marek Podgorny, Diglio Simoni

PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The goal of the MOVIE project is to provide a stable, uniform interpretative programming environment on top of evolving open software and HPCC language standards.

Initial design ideas were provided by the PostScript based window server NeWS developed by Sun Microsystems. The picture above illustrates the rapid evolution of the workstation software environment over the last several years, initiated in late '80s by the window server technologies. As a consequence of this vigorous multi-vendor activities, a "generic'94" workstation offers now a complex, heterogeneous programming model composed of several powerful but often poorly integrated modules.

A MOVIE server is built on top of this heterogeneous collection as an open interpreter of extensible PostScript, which by being easily linkable to a variety of software paradigms, helps to reduce the software integration process to designing and implementing the server protocol called MovieScript. MOVIE servers compute by interpreting and communicate by passing MovieScript.

The ultimate goal of MOVIE is the operating environment for televirtuality, or high performance distributed virtual reality. This major software engineering task is still in progress. Selected system components and currently explored application areas are described on pages listed below.

SELECTED SYSTEM COMPONENTS
SELECTED APPLICATION DOMAINS
REFERENCES
  1. Furmanski, W., MOVIE - Multitasking Object-oriented Visual Interactive Environment, NPAC Technical Report, June 1992, to appear in Fox, G.C., Messina, P., and Williams, R., editors, Parallel Computing Works, Morgan and Kaufman 1994.

  2. Furmanski, W., Faigle, C., Haupt, T., Niemiec, J., Podgorny, M., and Simoni, D.A., MOVIE model for Open Systems based High Performance Distributed Computing, Concurrency: Practice and Experience, Vol. 5(4), 287-308, June 1993.

Northeast Parallel Architectures Center, Syracuse University, npac@npac.syr.edu
This page maintained by Wojtek Furmanski, furm@npac.syr.edu