Why GAT?

Why is there a need for a GAT, the Grid Application Toolkit? The simple answer, change.

The ``Grid'' currently is part-research, part-reality, and anything but settled. The ``Grid'' currently consists of a set of semi-related technologies, each of which is also in a state of flux, that allow users to utilize resources in a decentralized manner. As these various technologies are currently in a state of flux, the hapless application programmer, who's task it is to build an application for these users upon these shifting sands, is yolked with a Sisyphean task. GAT removes the application programmer from this quagmire. GAT isolates the application programmer, who only wishes to make use of the ``Grid,'' from the shifting sands of the ``Grid's'' ever changing shore.