Cosm - Preface

Preface

This is a living book. It will grow and change as phase 1 is implemented. Many chapters will contain the specifications of the Cosm protocols and applications. Some chapters will become manuals (e.g. 14), others will become essays (e.g. 3), and some will become books in their own right (e.g. 2).

Because different parts have been written and rewritten by different people, there may be some duplicate information, or parts that are just not quite right yet. The version numbers on the documents represent how close to done they are 0.01 is a start, and 1.0 is done. when phase 2 begins, we'll start with 1.01 and work towards 2.0.

Objectives

The objectives of this text are to explain and document phase 1 of the Cosm protocols. After reading the appropriate parts, a reader will be able to understand the design, use the applications, or design new projects for the system to work on.

Intended Readership

The reader may be a researcher in need of large amounts of CPU time, someone who wants to help a friend or organization work on a project, or a programmer who wishes to assist in the implementation and optimization of the system.

Organization (what to read)

The book is organized into 3 main sections - design philosophy, interfaces, and programming. Not everyone must read all the chapters. There are 3 main types of readers and therefore several tracks thought the book. A user track for those intending to simply install and run Cosm. An administrator track for those who intend to run or monitor most elements of the network. And a programmer track, for those who intend to write their own projects or help implement the protocols.

Each chapter is further organized into sections, going from overview to details. The end parts of some chapters are detains most readers may not need to familiarize themselves with in order to use the system.

All Readers
Read the Preface, chapters 0-4, and appendix-a

User Track
Read chapters 6-9, 11, 12

Administrator Track
Read chapters 5-12, 16

Programmer Track
Read everything, then read chapters 0-5, and 13 again.

v0.2 by Adam L. Beberg