Low delay and low throughput communication between Java and Python

Question

I am creating a game where the engine and graphics are running on Java, and one of the players which is AI controlled, in Python. I need to setup some communication method between these two, with the following conditions:

• multi-platform compatible: i am developing on a windows machine, but later i want to run both on Raspibian (RaspberryPi)

• low delay (milisecond level): the game is based on Pong, so the AI reaction to the ball position must be as fast as possible

• low throughtput: the throughput can be low, since only some numerical values will be passed, such as field dimentions, ball position and players positions (all serializable objects)

• full python compatibility: the Python AI program might need to communicate with an AI USB Accelerator like the NVidia Jetson or Google Coral. I haven't worked with these boards yet or their libraries, but i want to be sure that whatever communication solution i choose, also supports the necessary libraries for these boards.

• Client-Python/Server-Java synchronization: the game (Java) will run on 30 to 60 FPS, while the AI (Python) speed will heavily depend on the implementation, but its likely to be slower then the game.

• Directionality: the game provides the data, and the AI choses the action, therefore communication must be both ways

• Easeness of use: the focus of this project is not the communication between languages, therefore i want to make it as transparent and easy to implement as possible.

Given these requirements i found these libraries

• Inter Process Communication (IPC) / Pipes:

  • JPype

• Socket Communication:

  • Pyro
  • Py4J

• Re-implementation of the language:

  • Jython / JPython

I tried to group the libraries according to their working principle. From your experience, and my requirements, what would you say is the library that fits the best?

Answer 1

After some reading (no test implementation for each of the libraries) it seemed that Pyro is the best choices: more flexible, few setup code, over the network, very mature code, etc. I implemented Pyro in my project and i have to say it works even better then i expect!

So my answer to this post is, go with Pyro.