Jungle

Introduction

Jungle is a platform for rich Internet applications. It complements the World Wide Web, which is mainly focused on hypertext, by providing a platform that is primarily focused on applications. Although applications can be developed using web technologies such as HTML, HTTP, and JavaScript (see AJAX), Jungle allows applications to be simpler, lighter and faster. Additionally, Jungle provides complete freedom to designers: where HTML leaves the presentation up to the web browser, with limited control using CSS, Jungle allows arbitrary designs to be implemented, down to the individual pixel level if necessary.

Overview

Jungle is a platform consisting of a number of related technologies. Together, these technologies allow interactive multimedia applications to be implemented and distributed over the Internet. The following technologies are included in Jungle:

• FFFF, a data encoding designed to be compact and easy for computer programs to process
• SRSP, a simple protocol for invoking services offered by other computers across a network
• The Jungle Runtime, which executes programs written for the Jungle platform

The technologies making up the Jungle platform are briefly discussed below.

FFFF

FFFF is a data encoding designed for efficiency, flexibility, and ease of processing. Like s-expressions and XML, FFFF allows arbitrarily deep nesting and can be used to express any kind of data structure or program. Unlike s-expressions and XML, FFFF is a binary format, optimized for being quickly parsed and/or transmitted.

For more information about FFFF, see the FFFF specification.

SRSP

SRSP, short for Simple Remote Service Protocol, is a lightweight protocol for invoking remote services. It specifies only a few messages, enough to allow a client to invoke a service being offered by a server, after which further messages are exchanged between the client and the service.

The Jungle Runtime

The Jungle runtime allows programs developed for the Jungle platform to run. Programs written for Jungle are distributed in a bytecode format, which the Jungle runtime reads and executes. The runtime provides access to a number of basic facilities such as 2D graphics (pixels, lines, sprites), 3D graphics (OpenGL), text rendering, input events (keyboard, pointing device), and communication with the server. Additional functionality can be provided by modules, which may be made available on the Internet for reuse.