Interface Definition Language

Technology Dictionary -> Interface Definition Language

Search:

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: .

(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)