Design Last Updated: 10-20-2004
(Click a node to get a detailed explanation.)

The major difference in this variation is that the Population node in the basic Population runtime pattern shown here is now split into three steps, representing a common reality that population may often be sufficiently complex to require separate nodes to handle the three different steps of Gather, Process, and Apply.

The figure above also shows how all functional elements may occur one or multiple times. Thus, a single Gather node may access data on multiple Data Server/Services nodes. This is similar for the Apply node. A single Process node may invoke multiple Gather or Apply nodes as required (not shown in the figure above). In addition, there may be multiple Process nodes involved. However, a real-life implementation is unlikely to be as complex as this; a suitable subset of these nodes will usually suffice.

Grouping of different population functions also varies by product and implementation. In some case, Process and Apply functions may be collocated on a single node. In other cases, Process and Gather may reside together. These product-driven variations need to be considered in the final design.