On Wed, 2010-03-24 at 14:15 +0100, Roland Hänel wrote: > Still, I'm somewhat confused which API to choose if I was heading for > a > bigger project > > 1. plain Thrift (for Java)? > Seems the major advantage is that Thrift is available in many > languages, but > if I'm only interested in Java that doesn't give me much. The Java > code on > the native Thrift interface looks quite awful. It also seems to me as > if it > would result in many lines of code even for quite trivial jobs.
Right, using raw Thrift means that you're interacting with the system by calling the RPC methods directly. You've got maximum flexibility but you're quickly going to notice a lot of boiler plate accumulating. > 2. a higher level Java Client? > I didn't look at Hector right now, however it confused me somewhat > that if > something like Hector was the "best choice", why isn't this then > bundled > with Cassandra? The "best choice" is always going to be subjective, but Hector has developed a lot of momentum in a short period of time. It would not be at all unreasonable to call it the de facto Java library for Cassandra. As for why it's not bundled, that is a feature and not a bug. As separate projects the two can move at their own pace, use the work-flow of their own choosing, pick the tools right for them, and add committers without the unwanted additional oversight. IMO, bundling Hector wouldn't enhance it's development, (if anything, it would inhibit it), and by sending the message that it was the One True Library it would unnecessarily close the door on competition. > 3. the "native Java fat Client" > I started some experiments with it, however couldn't get it completely > working, documentation in the Wiki is not really usuable at all. > Question > would be if this is something that you (the developers) consider as > the "big > thing for the future" or is this some niche for lets say high > performance > bulk jobs but not for the "everyday Java client program"? The fat client is different from Thrift in that it obtains a sort of limited membership in the cluster and is able to route requests directly to nodes, as opposed to the proxying that can occur when you make a Thrift call to a random node. The fat client is not as well tested, and it's true that we usually steer people toward Thrift unless they have specific requirements. If you're having problems though, we'd love to hear about them, either here, or in a bug report (https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/CASSANDRA). -- Eric Evans eev...@rackspace.com
