BlindEyes is an open-source distributed framework designed to allow the distribution and chaining together of code in many popular languages.
BlindEye is a Web Interface front-end to BlindEyes. It allows the user to submit and view jobs, view statistics on the controller and the nodes, and other administrative functions. BlindEye is a completely separate project to BlindEyes, however it is the only front-end I've written. In the future I would also like to implement a command line interface in python or ruby. Since all communication with BlindEyes occurs through the database, a front-end can be written in any language that supports an object-relational mapper. Since I make no assumption as to what database the user wishes to use, I do not want to confine the user to any predefined database.
Why was this framework created and what does it offer me? I believe that typically, the most simple and straightfoward design will satisfy the majority of what people will use an application for, and satisfy it better. I have evaluated several popular grids implemented in JAVA and all of them were either too complex to use, too bloated, or took too long to set up. None offered what I wanted, to be operational in virtually as long as it takes me to install the application. BlindEyes offers this. In a matter of minutes after installing BlindEyes and BlindEye, you can have a distributed Hello World example working and implemented in any of over 10 languages. It is not always about how many things an application can do, but how efficient it can do the few things you need it to.
Why restrict the user to Java 1.6? Some of the most crucial technology in BlindEyes was made possible because of the new scripting features of Java 1.6. Jobs and Job Triggers can be created in many of the scripting languages that currently have extensions for 1.6. The powerful concept here is that the user defines the code in the system, not me. I only created the framework that the user ultimately dictates.
BlindEyes provides the following functionalities:
Please make note of the following:
BlindEyes is released under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL), so free for both commercial and non-commercial use.