Hi Itapaj�,
Welcome to JavaRanch and this forum.
I think
you should get your assignment and look at it before you start considering the problems - otherwise you could end up trying to solve non existant problems
.
When you are asking about how "people manage a registry update", are you asking about updating the RMI Registry, or are you talking about updating the data file provided by Sun? If you are talking about updating the RMI Registry, then it should not be an issue for you once you get the real assignment: you only need to register one object with the registry, and do not need to update it.
However if you are talking about updating the data file, then the issue comes down to optomistic locking of the data file compared to pesimistic locking (and "optimistic locking" can be a good phrase to
search on). With either optimistic or pesimistic locking, you still need to validate the data
after the lock is in place, which may impact on the requirements of your instructions (which may be different from other candidates instructions, which is why you need to get your assignment as a first step).
Your idea about having some key identifier for locking / updating etc.
may work, but again, you
must wait until you have your instructions before making such a decision. Some instructions will have a similar concept as a basic requirement (so you must do what you have thought of). Other instructions will explicitly stop you from doing this. And you have no way of knowing up front which set of instructions you are going to get.
Regards, Andrew
[ July 25, 2004: Message edited by: Andrew Monkhouse ]