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  18     &lt; <a href="past/index.html">Past</a> &gt; &nbsp;
  19     &lt; <b>Present</b> &gt; &nbsp;
  20     &lt; <a href="future/index.html">Future</a> &gt; &nbsp;
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  22 <h1>Systematiki</h1>
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  24
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  26 <p><a href="index.html">Introduction</a></p>
  27 <p><a href="development.html">Development</a></p>
  28 <p><a href="tutorial.html">Tutorial</a></p>
  29 <p><a href="documentation.html">Documentation</a></p>
  30 <p><a href="past-present.html">Past and Present</a></p>
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  34 <h2>The Big Picture</h2>
  35 <p>This document describes some decisions I (Felix Rabe) took while
  36 developing Systematiki.</p>
  37
  38 <p>Systematiki is a data-centric application with two big unknown variables:</p>
  39
  40 <h3>How the data will be stored (&quot;Back-end&quot;)</h3>
  41 <p>The initial data storage is a dummy database that resides in memory and
  42 contains example data.  This is quick and dirty and easy to implement.
  43 Later, do we want data to be stored in a database
  44 (like MySQL or PostgreSQL) or on the filesystem?
  45 Systematiki should provide for both options.  Also, we'd like to have
  46 transparent (TCP) network access to a remote server.</p>
  47
  48 <h3>How the data will be presented (&quot;Front-end&quot;)</h3>
  49 <p>The possible uses of the data provided above should not be limited to
  50 only one presentation / editor / GUI / whatever provided by the Systematiki
  51 project.  The Systematiki code should provide for an editor GUI and a
  52 (TCP) network server.</p>
  53
  54 <h3>The result</h3>
  55 <p><i>(Also see the old
  56 <a href="past/architecture.svg">architecture illustration</a>.)</i></p>
  57 <p>Systematiki is divided into a front-end and a back-end, glued together
  58 by <tt>systematiki.py</tt>.  All back-ends
  59 share a common API such that all back-ends are usable with all front-ends
  60 (and vice versa).</p>
  61
  62 <h2>Glossary</h2>
  63 <p><i>(Also see the old
  64 <a href="past/prototype-2.html">proto2 glossary</a>.)</i></p>
  65 <p><b>API</b><br/>
  66 Application Programming Interface.  The back-ends have a common API.</p>
  67 <p><b>Back-end</b><br/>
  68 A software module that retrieves and stores data in some kind of a database,
  69 e.g. MySQL, filesystem, or TCP network.</p>
  70 <p><b>Front-end</b><br/>
  71 A software module that makes back-end data available to either the user or
  72 another application, e.g. over the network.</p>
  73
  74 <h2>Systematiki and Python</h2>
  75 <p>Systematiki (including front-end and back-end) is implemented in Python.
  76 The front-end/back-end split means that one or both of those ends can
  77 interact with (bind to) another programming language.  Where this is not
  78 possible, Systematiki can always be accessed over the network or by other
  79 IPC mechanisms, limited only by what people cared to implement.</p>
  80
  81 <h2>Configuring Systematiki</h2>
  82 <p><i>(Also see the old
  83 <a href="past/server-configuration.html">server configuration</a>
  84 proposal.)</i></p>
  85 <p><tt>systematiki.py</tt> can <i>only</i> be configured using command-line
  86 arguments.  Other means of configuration (GUI, configuration files) can
  87 be provided later with external wrapper scripts / programs.</p>
  88 </div>
  89
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  91 <p>Software for browsing, searching, and editing semantically linked data.</p>
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