** Jun 13, 2001: We have upgraded our e-speak engine to version A.03.13. This will require our users to upgrade the software library accordingly. Please see the ESDK page and the upgrade note for more details. **
The e-speak initiative is supported by a gift from Hewlett Packard. The University of Pittsburgh has undertaken a research and instructional initiative to develop frameworks for component technology based on Hewlett Packard's e-speak infrastructure. The e-speak infrastructure is comparable to several other efforts including SUN's JXTA, Microsoft's .NET, and OMG's CORBA.
An important goal of the effort will make it possible for students in graduate courses to engage in the development of network based systems and services making use of state of the art application servers and technology. This project began in September of 2000 and will run under the initial grant until August of 2001.
One of our first efforts is directed to the development of an e-marketplace for instructional services. This efforts will involve architects, designers, coders, and users. As we worked through the intricacies of e-speak, we developed a new appreciation for the design problems. Michael Spring developed and annotated a one hour PowerPoint show on the effort called E-speak Revisited. (In order to hear the audio portion, Internet Explorer 5.0 is required. Click on the PowerPoint show icon in the lower right corner to have the show run automatically. While watching the show, you can advance, or repeat, slides manually by right clicking on the screen.) This presentation, like the initial one developed to orient students, provides both a conceptually simplified description of E-speak as well as a high level architectural overview of the instructional services project. To preserve the history of our experience, we have kept the original presentation called An Introduction to E-speak.
Projects and activities are still being developed. Students interested in component transaction management. multi-tier client server computing, and electronic commerce are encouraged to contact one of the principal in the project. At the current time, these include Brian Butler (KGSB), Dennis Galletta (KGSB), Rami Melhem (CS), Michael Spring (DIST), Peter Wu (DIST), and Taieb Znati (DIST and CS).
Michael Spring currently serves as the main project contact.