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GBBopen Overview

Overview

Documentation

Code Samples

GBBopen Website

GBBopen is a modern, high-performance, open source blackboard-system framework based on the concepts that were explored and refined in the UMass Generic Blackboard system and the commercial GBB product. It is not, however, a clone or updated version of either system. Instead, the knowledge and experience gained with these frameworks is being applied to create a new generation of blackboard-system capabilities and make them freely available to a wide audience.

GBBopen provides a number of important benefits:

A modular, open-source reference implementation of blackboard-system infrastructure that serves as a basis for research and development activities.
Deployment of robust and high-quality software releases that are validated through a process of widespread peer review.
The availability of source code and the right to modify it enable unlimited improvement and enhancement of the software. It also makes it possible to port the code to new hardware and software, to adapt it to changing conditions, and to reach a detailed understanding of how GBBopen works. Source-code availability also makes it much easier to isolate and fix bugs.
The right to redistribute improvements and extensions to the GBBopen source code encourages developments and enables them to be shared by the user community.
The right to use the GBBopen software, when combined with redistribution rights, attracts users, volunteers, and sponsors. This encourages further support and extension of the software.
There is no single entity on which the future of the GBBopen software depends. This is particularly important given the highly specialized nature of blackboard-system software and the lack of multiple implementations. It is always possible for another group to continue maintenance and improvement of the open-source GBBopen software.
Open-source software enables forkingthe creation of an alternative version when development is perceived as not moving in the right direction or quickly enough to meet particular needs. Although forking can be a disadvantage, it allows the concurrent exploration of different approaches by different groups in the development of complex software systems. The modular nature of GBBopen is intended to encourage the creation of alternative and additional GBBopen modules ("module forks") for use in research and experimentation.