from
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)
Interface Definition Language
(IDL) 1. An {OSF} standard for defining {RPC} stubs.
[Details?]
2. Part of an effort by {Project DOE} at {SunSoft, Inc.} to
integrate distributed {object} technology into the {Solaris}
{operating system}. IDL provides the standard interface
between objects, and is the base mechanism for object
interaction.
The {Object Management Group}'s {CORBA} 1.1 (Common Object
Request Broker Architecture) specifies the interface between
objects. IDL (Interface Definition Language) is the base
mechanism for object interaction.
The SunSoft OMG IDL CFE (Compiler Front End) version 1.2
provides a complete framework for building CORBA 1.1-compliant
preprocessors for OMG IDL. To use it you write a back-end. A
complete compiler of IDL would translate IDL into {client}
side and {server} side routines for remote communication in
the same manner as {Sun}'s current {RPCL} compiler. The IDL
compiler front end allows integration of new back ends which
can translate IDL to various programming languages.
Several companies including Sunsoft are building back ends to
the CFE which translate IDL into target languages,
e.g. {Pascal} or {C++}, in the context of planned
CORBA-compliant products. IDL requires C++ 2.1.
Not to be confused with any of the other {IDLs}.
E-mail: <[email protected]>.
(ftp://omg.org/pub/omg_idl_cfe.tar.Z),
(ftp://omg.org/pub/OMG_IDL_CFE_1.2/).
Telephone: Mache Creeger, SunSoft, Inc. +1 (415) 336 5884.
(1993-05-04)