SocketServer: replace network by hard drive

[John Nagle]

On 9/24/2010 12:53 AM, antoine wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I would like to create a python server for which the requests are
> passed by files on the hard drive instead of a network.
> I am currently looking at the SocketServer python module, hoping for
> an easy modification.
>
> Is it doable at all?
> If yes, how should it be done?
>
> Thanks,
> Antoine.

    Yes, it can be done.  But why?

    ICVERIFY, the first web-based credit card processing system,
worked that way.   Remember web sites which put up messages
like "Wait up to 3 minutes for your credit card transaction to
be processed. DO NOT REFRESH THIS PAGE".  That's ICverify.

    The ICVERIFY concept was that the client-facing side created files
in an input directory, then waited for response files to appear.
The back end drove a farm of dial-up modems, each emulating a
1200 baud credit card terminal.  Each back-end process looked
for incoming work files, marked them as in use, dialed up
the credit card processing system, did the transaction, and
wrote a response file.  All the process coordination was
through files.

    That was 1995 technology, before the banking system had
direct Internet connections.

				John Nagle