Add SI95 transport library to doc

[ric-plt/lib/rmr.git] / docs / developer-guide.rst

diff --git a/docs/developer-guide.rst b/docs/developer-guide.rst
index de2bea7..db57508 100644 (file)
--- a/docs/developer-guide.rst
+++ b/docs/developer-guide.rst
@@ -9,19 +9,21 @@
 RMR Developer Guide 
 ============================================================================================ 
  
 RMR Developer Guide 
 ============================================================================================ 
  

-The RIC Message Router (RMR) is a library which applications 
-use to send and receive messages where the message routing, 
-endpoint selection, is based on the message type rather than 
-on traditional DNS names or IP addresses. This document 
-contains information that potential developers might need to 
-know in order to contribute to the project 
+The RIC Message Router (RMR) is a library for peer-to-peer 
+communication. Applications use the library to send and 
+receive messages where the message routing and endpoint 
+selection is based on the message type rather than DNS host 
+name-IP port combinations. 
+ 
+This document contains information that developers need to 
+know to contribute to the RMR project. 

  
 Language 
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
  
 RMR is written in C, and thus a contributing developer to the 
 core library should have an excellent working knowledge of C. 
  
 Language 
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
  
 RMR is written in C, and thus a contributing developer to the 
 core library should have an excellent working knowledge of C. 

-There currently is one set of cross languages bindings 
+There currently is one set of cross-languages bindings 

 supporting Python, and a developer wishing to contribute to 
 the bindings source should be familiar with Python (version 
 3.7+) and with the Python *ctypes* library. 
 supporting Python, and a developer wishing to contribute to 
 the bindings source should be familiar with Python (version 
 3.7+) and with the Python *ctypes* library. 


@@ -31,12 +33,15 @@ Code Structure
  
 RMR is designed to provide an insulation layer between user 
 applications and the actual transport mechanism. Initially 
  
 RMR is designed to provide an insulation layer between user 
 applications and the actual transport mechanism. Initially 

-RMR was built on top of Nanosmg, and shortly after was ported 
-to NNG (Nanomsg Next Generation). Because RMR presents the 
-same API to the user application regardless of the underlying 
-transport library, the resulting output when compiling RMR is 
-a transport specific library. As an example, librmr_nng.a is 
-the library generated for use with the NNG transport. 
+RMR was built on top of the third-party library Nanosmg, 
+shortly after was ported to the third-party library NNG 
+(Nanomsg Next Generation), and then was ported to an 
+internally developed socket library called SI95. RMR presents 
+the same API to the user application regardless of the 
+underlying transport library, but the resulting output when 
+compiling RMR is always a transport-specific library. As an 
+example, librmr_nng.a is the library generated for use with 
+the NNG transport. 

  
 As such the library source is organised into multiple 
 components: 
  
 As such the library source is organised into multiple 
 components: 


@@ -45,8 +50,8 @@ components:
 common 
    
   Source in the common directory is agnostic to the 
 common 
    
   Source in the common directory is agnostic to the 

-  underlying transport mechanism (Nanomsg or NNG), and thus 
-  can be used when generating either library. 
+  underlying transport mechanism (Nanomsg, NNG, SI95, ..), 
+  and thus can be used when generating either library. 

  
 nano 
    
  
 nano 
    


@@ -57,6 +62,12 @@ nano
 nng 
    
   Source which is tightly coupled with the underlying NNG 
 nng 
    
   Source which is tightly coupled with the underlying NNG 

+  library. (NNG has been deprecated, but the RMR source 
+  remains as an example.) 
+ 
+si 
+   
+  Source which is tightly coupled with the underlying SI95 

   library. 
  
  
   library. 
  
  


@@ -65,16 +76,16 @@ Internal Function Exposure
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
  
 The decision to limit as much as practical the exposure of 
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
  
 The decision to limit as much as practical the exposure of 

-truely internal RMR functions was made, and as a result most 
+truly internal RMR functions was made, and as a result most 

 of the RMR functions carry a static label. In order to 
 modularise the code as much as possible, this means that the 
 of the RMR functions carry a static label. In order to 
 modularise the code as much as possible, this means that the 

-primary module (e.g. rmr_nng.c) will directly include other 
-RMR modules, rather than depending on referencing the 
-internal functions during linking. While this is an 
-infrequently used approach, it does mean that there are very 
-few functions visible for the user application to reference, 
-all of them having the prefix rmr\_, while allowing internal 
-functions to have shorter names while still being meaningful. 
+primary module (e.g. rmr_nng.c) directly includes other RMR 
+modules, rather than depending on referencing the internal 
+functions during linking. While this is an infrequently used 
+approach, it does mean that there are very few functions 
+visible for the user application to reference, all of them 
+having the prefix rmr\_. This allows internal functions to 
+have shorter names while still being meaningful. 

  
 Coding Style 
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
  
 Coding Style 
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 


@@ -85,9 +96,9 @@ general practice is to follow the style when editing an
 existing module, respect the author's choice where style 
 alternatives are not frowned upon. When creating new modules, 
 select a style that fits the guidelines and is easy for you 
 existing module, respect the author's choice where style 
 alternatives are not frowned upon. When creating new modules, 
 select a style that fits the guidelines and is easy for you 

-to work with. There are a few things that are insisted on by 
-the maintainers of RMR, but for the most part style is up to 
-the creator of a module. 
+to work with. There are a few things that the RMR maintainers 
+insist on, but for the most part style is up to the creator 
+of a module. 

  
 Building 
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
  
 Building 
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 


@@ -95,4 +106,4 @@ Building
 RMR is constructed using CMake. While CMake's project 
 description can be more cumbersome than most typical 
 Makefiles, the tool provides convenience especially when it 
 RMR is constructed using CMake. While CMake's project 
 description can be more cumbersome than most typical 
 Makefiles, the tool provides convenience especially when it 

-comes to creating packages. 
+comes to creating DEB/RPM packages.