jeeves is a "Servlet" package which would allow a java(tm:sun.com) language
web server to run classes loaded from the network under a SecurityManager
which controls their access restrictions. this is how Applets are
protected within web browsers. The SecurityManager restricts file, system
and network activity in a boolean way, for example, either allowing or
disallowing file opening or class loading.
so if your agent (Servlet) class can be loaded by another internet host
(depends on your OS, etc.), then it could be run remotely.
currently the Servlet interface is a request-resonse one, so your agent
class would load and receive your request, and then have the opportunity to
respond.
the web server would have to not timeout your socket for the response, and
the Servlet would have to have some idea of what to do once it got there.
JDBC would be about the principal activity here.
more interesting things would happen, however, if Servlet or another
Servlet like system permitted session type conversations and then other
interfaces, in addition to JDBC, came up provide conversations other than
SQL-based ones.
the present incarnation of Servlet is an Ok first shot, but not much more
than threaded CGI, IMHO.
my recommendation to the jeeves developers was to put CGI into a URI class
which was a server-oriented alternative to the java.net.URL class (which is
certainly a client-side operator as it's virtually useless for CGI and
obviously intended to provide only URL.getContent() ). Then URI could
provide more interesting I/O possibilities for session-communication
development.
-john