Distributed Virtual Environments (DVEs) are networked
VR systems that support group work and whose central
concept is one of a shared virtual world, i.e. a
computer generated space where participants can meet
and interact. To address the need that DVE middleware
platforms offer adequate support to applications that
run on the public Internet, DVE middleware platforms
ought to meet six requirements. These include
scalability, persistence, responsiveness,
flexibility, maintainability and extensibility. This
book argues that research efforts aimed at the
implementation of mechanisms to address the first
three requirements have largely been successful but,
in contrast, much less focus has been put on
addressing the flexibility, maintainability and
extensibility requirements in contemporary DVE
applications. Consequently, the author details the
use of structural reflection as an approach that not
only addresses the latter three requirements but also
offers added value in the form of providing a
framework for scalability, persistence and
responsiveness that is in itself flexible,
maintainable and extensible.
VR systems that support group work and whose central
concept is one of a shared virtual world, i.e. a
computer generated space where participants can meet
and interact. To address the need that DVE middleware
platforms offer adequate support to applications that
run on the public Internet, DVE middleware platforms
ought to meet six requirements. These include
scalability, persistence, responsiveness,
flexibility, maintainability and extensibility. This
book argues that research efforts aimed at the
implementation of mechanisms to address the first
three requirements have largely been successful but,
in contrast, much less focus has been put on
addressing the flexibility, maintainability and
extensibility requirements in contemporary DVE
applications. Consequently, the author details the
use of structural reflection as an approach that not
only addresses the latter three requirements but also
offers added value in the form of providing a
framework for scalability, persistence and
responsiveness that is in itself flexible,
maintainable and extensible.