Any change in a
computing
Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computer, computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and the development of both computer hardware, hardware and softw ...
system, such as a new feature or new component, is transparent if the system after change adheres to previous
external interface as much as possible while changing its internal behaviour. The purpose is to shield from change all systems (or human users) on the other end of the interface. Confusingly, the term refers to overall ''invisibility'' of the component, it does not refer to ''visibility of component's internals'' (as in
white box or
open system). The term ''transparent'' is widely used in computing marketing in substitution of the term ''invisible'', since the term ''invisible'' has a bad
connotation (usually seen as something that the user can't see, and has no control over) while the term ''transparent'' has a good connotation (usually associated with not hiding anything). The vast majority of the times, the term ''transparent'' is used in a misleading way to refer to the actual invisibility of a computing process, which is also described by the term ''opaque'', especially with regards to data structures. Because of this misleading and counter-intuitive definition, modern computer literature tends to prefer use of "
agnostic" over "transparent".
The term is used particularly often with regard to an
abstraction layer
In computing, an abstraction layer or abstraction level is a way of hiding the working details of a subsystem. Examples of software models that use layers of abstraction include the OSI model for network protocols, OpenGL, and other graphics libra ...
that is invisible either from its upper or lower neighbouring layer.
Also temporarily used later around 1969 in IBM and Honeywell programming manuals the term referred to a certain
computer programming
Computer programming or coding is the composition of sequences of instructions, called computer program, programs, that computers can follow to perform tasks. It involves designing and implementing algorithms, step-by-step specifications of proc ...
technique. An application code was transparent when it was clear of the low-level detail (such as device-specific management) and contained only the logic solving a main problem. It was achieved through
encapsulation – putting the code into modules that
hid internal details, making them invisible for the main application.
Examples
For example, the
Network File System is transparent, because it introduces the access to files stored remotely on the network in a way uniform with previous local access to a
file system, so the user might even not notice it while using the folder hierarchy. The early
File Transfer Protocol
The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standard communication protocol used for the transfer of computer files from a server to a client on a computer network. FTP is built on a client–server model architecture using separate control and d ...
(FTP) is considerably less transparent, because it requires each user to learn how to access files through an ''ftp'' client.
Similarly, some file systems allow transparent
compression and decompression of data, enabling users to store more files on a medium without any special knowledge; some file systems encrypt files transparently. This approach does not require running a compression or encryption utility manually.
In
software engineering
Software engineering is a branch of both computer science and engineering focused on designing, developing, testing, and maintaining Application software, software applications. It involves applying engineering design process, engineering principl ...
, it is also considered good practice to develop or use abstraction layers for
database
In computing, a database is an organized collection of data or a type of data store based on the use of a database management system (DBMS), the software that interacts with end users, applications, and the database itself to capture and a ...
access, so that the same application will work with different databases; here, the abstraction layer allows other parts of the program to access the database transparently (see
Data Access Object, for example).
In
object-oriented programming
Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a programming paradigm based on the concept of '' objects''. Objects can contain data (called fields, attributes or properties) and have actions they can perform (called procedures or methods and impl ...
, transparency is facilitated through the use of
interfaces that hide actual implementations done with different underlying
classes.
Types of transparency in distributed system
Transparency means that any form of
distributed system should hide its distributed nature from its users, appearing and functioning as a normal centralized system.
There are many types of transparency:
* Access transparency – Regardless of how resource access and representation has to be performed on each individual computing entity, the users of a distributed system should always access resources in a single, uniform way. Example: SQL Queries
*
Location transparency – Users of a distributed system should not have to be aware of where a resource is physically located. Example: Pages in the Web
* Migration transparency – Users should not be aware of whether a resource or computing entity possesses the ability to move to a different physical or logical location.
* Relocation transparency – Should a resource move while in use, this should not be noticeable to the end user.
*
Replication transparency – If a resource is replicated among several locations, it should appear to the user as a single resource.
*
Concurrent transparency – While multiple users may compete for and share a single resource, this should not be apparent to any of them.
*
Failure transparency – Always try to hide any failure and recovery of computing entities and resources.
*
Persistence transparency – Whether a resource lies in volatile or permanent memory should make no difference to the user.
*
Security transparency – Negotiation of cryptographically secure access of resources must require a minimum of user intervention, or users will circumvent the security in preference of productivity.
Formal definitions of most of these concepts can be found in
RM-ODP, the Open Distributed Processing Reference Model (ISO 10746).
The degree to which these properties can or should be achieved may vary widely. Not every system can or should hide everything from its users. For instance, due to the existence of a fixed and finite
speed of light
The speed of light in vacuum, commonly denoted , is a universal physical constant exactly equal to ). It is exact because, by international agreement, a metre is defined as the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time i ...
there will always be more latency on accessing resources distant from the user. If one expects real-time interaction with the distributed system, this may be very noticeable.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Transparency (Human-Computer Interaction)
Human–computer interaction
Distributed computing architecture
Software architecture