Random Variate Generation Web Service

Simulation and statistical applications often mimic the behavior of a random phenomenon by way of generating random observations that form a known or empirical probability distribution with estimated parameter values. Generation of such random observations is called Random Variate Generation (RVG). The number of simulation and statistical applications provided on the World Wide Web (Web) is on the rise. To facilitate the development of simulation and statistical applications on the Web by way of reuse, there is a need for providing RVG as a Web service. This research involves the development of such a Web service for RVG, which can be invoked programmatically over the Web by using SOAP over the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) running on top of the Internet. To provide the RVG Web service, an RVG Web application is developed based on the Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) architecture. The RVG Web application is engineered by using the IBM WebSphere Studio Application Developer and runs on the IBM WebSphere Application Server. A client simulation and statistical application may call the RVG Web service and request the generation of random variates from 27 probability distributions. In addition, the RVG Web service also provides general statistics, scatter plot, and histogram of the requested random variates. The plots and histograms are created in Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG). The RVG Web service: (a) accepts requests in the Extensible Markup Language (XML) format, which is specified according to a request schema, and (b) sends the results to the client application also in the XML format specified according to a reply schema. The interface specification and access information needed to invoke the RVG Web service are provided in the Web Service Description Language (WSDL) document. Any Web-based simulation or statistical application that needs generation of random variates, their scatter plots and histograms, can invoke the RVG Web service programmatically at http://sunfish.cs.vt.edu/RVGWebService .

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Computer Science

Department dc:contributor.department

Computer Science

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2003

Author dc:creator

• Sabah, Mohammad

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Balci, Osman

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Nance, Richard E.
• Arthur, James D.

• J2EE
• Web service
• Random variate generation
• design patterns
• model view controller
• SVG
• SOAP
• WSDL

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

etd-09102003-155501

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/35001