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].

,

.

Telephone: Mache Creeger, SunSoft, Inc. [phone].

(1993-05-04)