Javascript Distributed Computing [closed]

Answer 1

The whole idea of Javascript Distributed Computing has number of disadvantages:

• single point of failure - there is no direct way to comunicate between nodes
• natural fails of nodes - every node is working as long as browser
• no guarantee that message sent will be ever received - according to natural fails of nodes
• no guarantee that message received have been ever sent - because some hacker can interpose
• annoying load on client side
• ethical problems

while there is only one (but very tempting) advantage:

• easy and free access to milions of nodes - almost every device has JS supporting browser nowadays

However the biggest problem is corelation between scalability and annoyance. Let's say you offer some attractive web service and run computing on client side. More people you use for computing, more people are annoyed. More people are annoyed, less people use your service. Well, you can limit annoyance (computing), scalability or try something between.

Consider google for example. If google will run computations on client side, some people will start to use bing. How many ? Depends on annoyance level.

The only hope for Javascript Distributed Computing may be multimedial services. As long as they consume lots of CPU, nobody will notice any additional load.

Answer 2

First that comes to my mind is security. Almost all distributed protocols that I know have encryption, thats why they prevent security risks. Although this subject is not so innovative..

http://www.igvita.com/2009/03/03/collaborative-map-reduce-in-the-browser/

Also Wuala is a distributed system, that is implemented using java applet.

Answer 3

There is something to be said for 'user rights' here. It sounds like you're describing a situation where the webmaster for Foo.com includes the script for, say, Folding@Home on their site. As a result, all visitors to Foo.com have some fraction of their CPU "donated" to Folding@Home, until they navigate away from Foo.com. Without some sort of disclaimer or opt-in, I would consider that a form of malware and avoid vising any site that did that.

That's not to say you couldn't build a system that asked for confirmation or permission, but there is definite potential for abuse.

Answer 4

I think the no.1 problem is javascript inefficiency at computing. It wouldn't be just worth it, because an application in pure c/c++ would be 100 times faster.

Answer 5

I know of pluraprocessing.com doing similar thing, not sure if exactly javascript, but they run Java through browser and runs totally in-memory with strict security.

They have 50,000 computers grid on which they have successfully run applications even like web-crawling (80legs).

Answer 6

I think we can verify results on some kind of problem.

Let's say we have n number of items and need to sort it. We'll give it to worker-1, worker-1 will give us the result. We can verify it O(n) time. Please consider that it take at least O(n*log(n)) time to produce the result. Additionally we should consider how large is n items? (concern about network speed)

Another example, f(x)=12345, and function is given. Purpose is to find value of x. We can test it by replace x with some worker's result. I think some problems that are not verifiable are difficult to give to someone.