Date: Oct. 31, 2000
Link: http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-10-2000/jw-1006-fileshare.html
Source Author or Organization: Ken McCrary, JavaWorld

Gnutella is a peer-to-peer system, an Internet file sharing system serving a community of connected users, with client software that also acts as a server (software typically referred to as a servant). In this article the author examines the origin of Gnutella, its network structure and protocol, and using Gnutella vs. using the Internet in a traditional manner.

The article discusses future enhancements to the Gnutella protocol, especially an XML protocol alternative that could have a number of advantages over today's binary data protocol, and the JTella Application Programming Interface (JTella API), an API designed to enable fast and easy development of Java applications and tools that access the Gnutella network that is still in an early stage of development. Code samples for searching and monitoring on a P2P network are included.