Cliser: The Java Communicator Hierarchy

A Communicator is a Cliser communication abstraction for communication that simplifies the transmission of text across a TCP/IP network. The Java Communicator hierarchy hides the details of whether a given socket is a TCP Socket, a TCP ServerSocket, or a UDPSocket; as well as whether or not the socket is for use by a client or server:

Using this hierarchy, a particular client or server can communicate simply by creating an instance of a class from the Communicator hierarchy appropriate for its needs. A client communicator requires the port and name of the remote host with which it is to communicate; a server communicator requires only the port on which it is to listen for connections.

Each of these classes supports two easy-to-use communication primitives:

• void send(String message) which can be used to send message to a remote host, and
• String receive() which can be used to receive a String from a remote host.

By providing a simple, uniform network interface for all clients and servers, a Communicator simplifies the task of communication between a client/server and a server/client.