Origins of packetC
Peder Jungck, Ralph Duncan, Dwight Mulcahy · Apress eBooks · 2011
The first question most developers ask when they hear about packetC is, “Why do we need yet another language?” The premise is simply to enhance the pace with which applications that live within the network can be developed and deployed. While that may seem overly simple, the issue is that building applications, or solutions, for today’s networks isn’t easy. What is meant by within the network? Solutions that are within the network are not generally considered client or server solutions. In the simplest cases, they are switches and routers. In more complex cases, they include components such as VoIP session border controllers, per subscriber broadband policy management, and core network infrastructure protection employing capabilities such as DDoS mitigation and DNS defense. Solutions such as these must be highly scalable, secure, and often require certification or accreditation. The requirements drive the need for leveraging massively-parallel systems and highly secure coding practices, while also representing networking protocols and transactions in the simplest manner possible. Finding that no existing language addressed the breadth of these requirements, we concluded that a new language was required. The introduction of packetC facilitates development of applications for this massively-parallel, highly secure, network-oriented world efficiently from concept to deployment.