0.2 Release -- Executive Summary of Purpose

This page is for a high-level, English-language summary of the purpose of the 0.2 release.

Our 0.2 release is one of two remaining architectural releases, where we focus on building Chandler as a platform before moving the focus to end-user functionality and features next year as described in more detail in the ProductRoadmapNov2004 and ChandlerTimeline.

The 0.2 release of Chandler is still very skeletal in functionality, with very few obvious differences to the end-user from the 0.1 release. However, there are some major changes in the underlying framework and architecture.

Our platform is finally beginning to be interesting for open source developers to start contributing and writing code. There is also sufficient detail that we invite constructive feedback and critcisms about our design and architecture, especially in the first three areas below and especially if you've been trying out our platform by writing your own parcels.

Our framework is by no means complete, but 0.2 shows a solid start on several of our major framework areas:

• Data Model and Repository: The 0.2 release implements a very flexible Data Model that allows a full spectrum of data representations, from loosely structured to highly structured.

  Data schemas can be defined in and imported from XML and saved in our Repository. The schemas can be very flexible -- much more flexible than the traditional columnar schema of relational databases.

  All of the major Chandler parcels now use the new data model, including the repository viewer.

• Notification Framework: The notification manager provides a publish and subscribe mechanism for various parts of Chandler to communicate high level events. The ZaoBao parcel offers an example of how the notification framework is used to notify the Viewer Parcel of updates in an RSS feed.

• Journal.AgentFramework2004: The Agent Framework is partially implemented in the .2 release. The underlying machinery for defining agents that automatically respond to conditions as they arise is present, but there's no user interface yet. There are two test agents: one that automatically approves any Jabber subscription request, and one that does something special if a "Professional" Contact with an occupation of "Dentist" is created.

• Journal.ChandlerPresentationAndInteractionArchitectureSep2003: The rudimentary beginnings of a novel presentation and interaction framework are now in Chandler. See the Document parcel for an example.

0.2 is NOT stable, and should not be used to store important data. We expect some significant changes in the near future. However, it should give developers a good understanding of where we are heading.

You can find more information about this release in the Chandler 0.2 README.

-- DuckySherwood - 08 Sep 2003