The Shortest Distance Between Two Points...

Grid computing introduces a hateful mess of complications which lie beyond the pail of more conventional computing models. Out of this thickety mess the LogicalFile package clears the brush of a single problem. Within the realm of grid computing, it often is the case that a user has identical files distributed throughout the geography of network space. In this very situation, almost in an attempt to make things worse, the user often has the desire to make even more copies of this Dolly the file; the doppelgangers multiply. This, at first, may not seem such a problem. However, the rub is that these files are often immense and would choke the puny networks linking these computers, taking forever to copy from here to there. The LogicalFile package tries to ameliorate this very problem.

The LogicalFile package does this by abstracting the process of copying the file away from the application programmer and user, then putting a little smarts in to the operation. GAT and it minions decide which of the various files is closest in this geography of network space to the target location, then uses this file to make the new copy so that this process of asexual reproduction proceeds as efficiently as is possible.