Providing a Java interface to NetSolve

This thesis describes the design and implementation of a graphical user interface to the NetSolve system, a project underway at the University of Tennessee. Its goal is to provide easy, uniform and efficient access to a wide variety of numerical software distributed over a network. The project is designed as an agent-based client-server application. The agent insures efficiency, the servers are uniform repositories of installed numerical softwares and the client is responsible for ensuring ease-of-use. Several client interfaces have been developed so far (C, FORTRAN and MATLAB). The purpose of this work is to provide a first im- plementation of a Java client interface to NetSolve. We hope to achieve multiple goals with this interface. It should be the easiest interface for users, given the capabilities of Java. It should also be accessible via the World Wide Web, freeing the users from downloading/installing any code. Its role can also be extended so that it becomes the official source of information about the NetSolve project and about the real-time configuration of its system. The design of this interface is therefore a critical issue within the NetSolve project. Its implementation raises numerous problems related to the specificities of Java and NetSolve; among them, the question of C/Java communication in heterogeneous environments arises as challenging, and also relevant to possible future projects.