Chapter 1. Entering the world of event processing

 

I am more and more convinced that our happiness or unhappiness depends far more on the way we meet the events of life, than on the nature of those events themselves.

Wilhelm von Humboldt

Some people say that event processing will be the next big development in computing; others say that event processing is old hat with nothing new. There is some truth in both viewpoints but before exploring them let’s clear up the confusion about what event processing actually is. This confusion stems from misconceptions and mixed messages from vendors and analysts, and also from lack of standards, lack of agreement on terms, and lack of understanding of the basic issues. This book aims to clear up this confusion.

We use the phrase event processing in this book, much as the terms database management and artificial intelligence are used, to refer to an entire subject area. Our definition of event processing is therefore fairly broad, namely, any form of computing that performs operations on events. We elaborate on what this means as the chapter progresses.

This chapter includes the following:

1.1. Event-driven behavior and event-driven computing

1.2. Introduction to event processing

1.3. The business value of an event processing platform

1.4. Event processing and its connection to related concepts

1.5. The Fast Flower Delivery application

1.6. Using this book’s website

1.7. Summary