# $Id: README,v 1.11 1999/01/13 19:35:36 helge Exp $

MOF2 Foundation Libraries
=========================

  Copyright (C) 1998 MDlink online service center GmbH, Helge Hess


  All libraries support garbage collection with libFoundation. They partly 
  require the advanced exception handling available in libFoundation (also 
  available as the FoundationExtensions library).
  An automatically generated reference documentation is available in the 
  reference directory.

  NGExtensions

    General extensions of the Foundation library. Additional containers
    and performance improved parsing functions.
    Contains MD5 and Base64 encoders/decoders, regular expression support.
    Requires libFoundation (or any other appropriate foundation library)

  NGReflection

    Object oriented wrapper around the Objective-C runtime. Provides
    reflective information about classes, categories, methods and so on.
    Currently requires GNU Objective-C runtime and a Foundation library.

  NGStreams

    A stream package based on the design of the java.io stream package, so it
    supports so called pull streams. Also contained is basic URL support.
    Requires NGExtensions and an appropriate Foundation library.

  NGNet

    Networking package on top of NGStreams. It supports the stream interface for
    TCP stream sockets and it supports datagram sockets (UDP sockets).

  DO

    Simple distributed objects system on top of NGNet.

  NGZlib

    Zlib compression libary based on zlib 1.0.4 written by Jean-loup Gailly and 
    Mark Adler.

  Kit Dependency Hierachy

    libFoundation
      NGExtensions
        NGStreams
          NGNet
            DO
          NGZlib
      NGReflection


MOF2 Foundation Extension Library
=================================
  part of MDlink Object Framework 2
  Copyright (C) 1998 Helge Hess, MDlink online service center GmbH

  contains MD5 functions:
    "derived from the RSA Data Security, Inc. MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm"

  contains code based on classes contained in the libFoundation library
    libFoundation derived have a original permission/Copyright like this:
    ---snip---
    Copyright (C) 1995, 1996 Ovidiu Predescu and Mircea Oancea.
    All rights reserved.

    Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its
    documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted, provided
    that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that
    copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting
    documentation.
 
    We disclaim all warranties with regard to this software, including all
    implied warranties of merchantability and fitness, in no event shall
    we be liable for any special, indirect or consequential damages or any
    damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data or profits, whether in
    an action of contract, negligence or other tortious action, arising out of
    or in connection with the use or performance of this software.
    ---snap---
    See the derived files for complete information.


MOF2 NGStreams Library
======================
  part of MDlink Object Framework 2
  Copyright (C) 1998 Helge Hess, MDlink online service center GmbH

  This kit implements a class library to support so called pull-streams. This
  library's design is influenced by the Java java.io package.

  Note that there is another stream concept called push-streams. The difference
  between pull- and push-streams is the flow of data. With pull-streams you are
  reading data from some source and the stream blocks when no data is available.
  With push-streams a stream is forwarding data to it's next stream when data is
  available. This is more like an event-system, eg if data becomes available on
  a socket a push streams makes a packet out of it and forwards the packet to 
  it's next stream.
  Both concepts have their pros and cons, but the pull-streams are easier to
  understand and to implement. A library featuring push-streams is the W3C www
  library.

  The library should be compiled with the -Wno-protocol switch to avoid warnings
  if a method was implemented in a superclass. -Wno-protocol ensures Java like
  protocol(interface) semantics.

  TODO

    fix serialization methods for 'long long' and 'double' types.

MOF2 NGNet Library
======================
  part of MDlink Object Framework 2
  Copyright (C) 1998 Helge Hess, MDlink online service center GmbH

  Non-Blocking IO

    NGActiveSocket and NGDatagramSocket support non-blocking IO by providing a
    method called -wouldBlockInMode:. Using this method you can check whether
    the socket could read or write data.
    The datagram socket provides timeout parameters for receiving packets. It's
    quite important to set _some_ timeout when you are receiving packet
    replies from an UDP server since UDP packets may be lost. The receive
    methods return nil on timeout.

--
Helge Hess (helge@mdlink.de)
MDlink online service center, 1999-01-10

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) 1998 MDlink online service center, Helge Hess
   All rights reserved.

   Author: Helge Hess (helge@mdlink.de)

   This file is part of the MDlink Object Framework 2 (MOF2)

   Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its
   documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted, provided
   that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that
   copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting
   documentation.

   We disclaim all warranties with regard to this software, including all
   implied warranties of merchantability and fitness, in no event shall
   we be liable for any special, indirect or consequential damages or any
   damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data or profits, whether in
   an action of contract, negligence or other tortious action, arising out of
   or in connection with the use or performance of this software.