View source for Hessian (web service protocol)

{{Infobox software
| name                   = Hessian Web Service Protocol
| logo                   = 
| screenshot             =
| caption                =
| developer              = Caucho Technology, Inc.
| status                 = Active
| latest release version = 
| latest release date    = <!-- {{release date|YYYY|MM|DD}} -->
| operating system       = Cross-platform
| programming language   = Java, Python, and ActionScript
| genre                  = Web service protocol
| license                = Apache License 2.0
| website                = {{URL|hessian.caucho.com}}
}}

'''Hessian''' is a binary HTTP-based protocol originally developed by Caucho Technology, Inc. Hessian has a companion protocol, Burlap, which is XML-based. Both protocols were originally meant to be lightweight and "use their own serialization algorithms for primitive types, collections, and so on."<ref name="JohnsonPro">{{cite book |url=http://book.javanb.com/Professional-Java-Development-with-the-Spring-Framework/BBL0070.html |title=Professional Java Development with the Spring Framework |author=Johnson, Rod; Hoeller, Juergen; Arendsen, Alef; Risberg, Thomas; Sampaleanu, Colin |publisher=Wiley Publishing, Inc |year=2005 |pages=672 |isbn=0764574833 |accessdate=18 September 2014}}</ref> Both were created despite the existence of numerous RPC ([[remote procedure call]]) protocols, which yielded an innefficient increase in binary data size during connection to a Web service.<ref name="HightowerMastering">{{cite book |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=XunF69glXuwC&pg=PA179 |chapter=Chapter 9: Hessian Binary Web Service Protocol |title=Mastering Resin |author=Hightower, Richard; Gradecki, Joseph D. |publisher=Wiley Publishing, Inc |year=2003 |pages=179–198 |isbn=9780471467465 |accessdate=18 September 2014}}</ref> As the developers put it, "none met our application's needs."<ref name="ResinProtocols">{{cite web |url=http://www.caucho.com/resin-3.1/doc/hessian.xtp |title=Resin Documentation - Protocols |publisher=Caucho Technology, Inc |accessdate=18 September 2014}}</ref>

Hessian was built to be fast, support object serialization, and leave wire protocols invisible to developers.<ref name="HightowerMastering" /><ref name="ResinHesSpec">{{cite web |url=http://hessian.caucho.com/doc/hessian-1.0-spec.xtp |title=Resin Documentation - Hessian 1.0.2 Specification |publisher=Caucho Technology, Inc |accessdate=18 September 2014}}</ref> Both Hessian and Burlap act as "ordinary Java objects" not requiring special classes to implement interfaces, following "design by interface" principles.<ref name="BegoliNew">{{cite web |url=http://www.devx.com/Java/Article/27300 |title=New Protocol Offers Simple, Efficient Java RMI |author=Bengoli, Edmon |work=DevX.com |publisher=QuinStreet Inc |date=17 February 2005 |accessdate=18 September 2014}}</ref>

Both Hessian and Burlap were originally implemented in Resin, Caucho's Java-based Web and application server.<ref name="ResinProtocols" /><ref name="ResinHessian">{{cite web |url=http://www.mieco.com.my:8080/ref/hessian.xtp |title=Using Hessian |publisher=Caucho Technology, Inc |accessdate=18 September 2014}}</ref> Support for the protocols has also been built into the Spring Framework, an open-source application framework and "inversion of control" container for the Java platform.<ref name="SFArch">{{cite web |url=http://www.springframework.org/docs/api/org/springframework/remoting/caucho/package-summary.html |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20040530153944/http://www.springframework.org/docs/api/org/springframework/remoting/caucho/package-summary.html |title=Package org.springframework.remoting.caucho |publisher=The Spring Framework Project |date=2004 |archivedate=30 May 2004 |accessdate=18 September 2014}}</ref>

==Adaptations==
Although Hessian is primarily intended for Web services, it can be adapted for TCP traffic by using the ''HessianInput'' and ''HessianOutput'' classes in Caucho's Java implementation.<ref name="HessianTCP">{{cite web |url=http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.text.xml.hessian.interest/102 |title=Hessian server outsite servlet container |author=Cruz, Leandro Rodrigo Saad |date=04 August 2007 |accessdate=18 September 2014}}</ref>

==External links==
* {{Official website|hessian.caucho.com}}
* [http://maillist.caucho.com/pipermail/hessian-interest/ Hessian-Interest Archives]
* [http://blog.caucho.com/ Caucho blog]

===Implementations===
* [http://code.google.com/p/hessdroid/ HessDroid] (Android)
* [http://www.hessiancsharp.org/ HessianCSharp] (C#)
* [http://sourceforge.net/projects/hessiancpp/ HessianCPP] (C++)
* [http://www.dsource.org/projects/hessiand/ HessianD] (D)
* [http://cotton.sourceforge.net/ Cotton] (Erlang)
* [http://sourceforge.net/projects/hessian4j.berlios/ Hessian4J] (Java)
* [https://github.com/bramp/hessian.js Hessian.js] (JavaScript)
* [http://sourceforge.net/projects/hessiankit HessianKit] (Objective-C 2.0)
* [http://search.cpan.org/~heytrav/Hessian-Translator/ Hessian-Translator] (Perl)
* [http://hessianphp.sourceforge.net/ HessianPHP] (PHP)
* [http://sourceforge.net/projects/hessianpy/ HessianPy] (Python)
* [http://sourceforge.net/projects/hessianruby/ HessianRuby] (Ruby)

==References==
<references />

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[[Category:Software development tool (open source)]]