Chapter 1.  Introduction

The GigaSystem Builder Eclipse Plugin will help you develop GigaSpaces systems fast.

Building a GigaSpaces system is not an easy task. You need to have a detailed understanding of the GigaSpaces concepts; these concepts also need a lot of detail in the configuration, which can be difficult to get right.

This plugin makes it easier to develop GigaSpaces applications with the following features:

1. The plugin provides a modelling environment based on Eclipse EMF. This is a graphical representation that is similar to XML, but easier to use because it automatically generates the syntax and resolves references between elements.
2. The modelling 'language' is a Domain-Specific Language (DSL) for the GigaSpaces architecture. A general idea of a DSL is to use higher level concepts because they express the intent of a system - what it must do - more concisely and simply than the original, lower-level concepts.

   For example, if you want to implement a topic subscriber (as in publish-subscribe) directly in GigaSpaces, you will have to learn some new concepts, write configuration and code that matches it. Using GigaSystemBuilder, you simply create a "subscriber" object in the model.

3. The plugin is model-driven, which means that the model determines precisely the architecture and framework of the system; it is not just for communicating with other members in a development. In situations where items of code, annotations and configuration must match, the generation will keep them in synch.
4. This is not just a one-shot approach like the Eclipse wizards. If you change the model and some hand-written code, the generator will correctly weave the pieces together. This means that you can refine the model and the Java code in parallel.

You can download the complete manual here.

1.1  Prerequisites

1.2  Change History

1.3  Known Issues

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