Ginga[1] is the middleware specification for the Nipo-Brazilian Digital TV System (SBTVD, from the Portuguese Sistema Brasileiro de TV Digital). Ginga[2] is also ITU-T Recommendation for IPTV Services. Ginga was developed based on a set of standardized technologies but mainly on innovations developed by Brazilian researchers. Its current reference implementation was released under the GPL license[3].
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Ginga is divided into two main integrated subsystems, which allow the development of applications following two different programming paradigms. Those subsystems are called Ginga-NCL[4] (for declarative NCL applications) and Ginga-IMP (for imperative applications). In the Ginga architecture, only the Ginga-NCL subsystem is required. Ginga-Imp is optional.
In the case of the Brazilian Terrestrial Digital TV System, the imperative subsystem, called Ginga-J, supports Java applications, and it is required in fixed receivers and optional in portable receivers. For IPTV services following the H.761 ITU-T Recommendation, only the Ginga-NCL subsystem is required, for any terminal type.
Ginga was developed by Telemídia Lab from Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio) and by LAViD from Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB).
Ginga is an almost indefinable, mystical quality of movement and attitude possessed by Brazilians and evident in everything they do. The way they walk, talk, dance and approach everything in their lives. The name Ginga was chosen for the middleware in recognition of the culture, art, and constant fight for freedom and equality of the Brazilian people. Ginga is the fundamental movement in capoeira[5], and pronounced jinga; literally: rocking back and forth; to swing.