The Open Software Foundation has kicked off a new Pre-Structured Technology project aimed at providing Distributed Computing Environment developers with a mechanism for creating C++ objects for Corba or Common Object Models within around six months. The project will see Hewlett-Packard Co’s OODCE Object-Oriented Distributed Computing Environment implementation integrated to work with the latest 1.2.1 release of the Computing Environment. Specifically, Hewlett-Packard, Digital Equipment Corp an d OODCE user Lexis-Nexis are funding a project to get the class libraries working with the new version of DEC’s XInterface Definition Language interface definition language compiler which, has been bundled in the C++-enabled Distributed Computing Environment 1.2.1 released in March (CI No 2,887). Distributed Environment developers will be able to license a set of C++ libraries for developing objects are no longer tied to Hewlett-Packard’s own interface definition language compiler, idl++. Hewlett-Packard had proposed the implementation to the Software Foundation’s Distributed Computing Environment Pre-Structured Technology group for inclusion in Distributed Computing Environment version 1.2.X as long as two years ago (CI No 2,496). The way Hewlett-Packard described it back then was that the Object-Oriented Environment removes the need for working directly with the 400 or so Distributed Computing Environment application programming interfaces that define how conformant applications communicate with each other and what use is made of services such as security. Distributed Computing Environment application programming interface commands are encapsulated into C++ client and server classes (templates for creating re-usable objects ) with a default Distributed Computing behavior. But they’re not C++ wrappers, it said. The idea is that classes can be used to access services at a higher level without having to learn all the details of the the Environment’s application program ming interface. In essence, Hewlett-Packard mapped basic Distributed Environment concepts in C++ language features. C++ class functions are defined for each operation declared in the Interface Definition Language specification. Client objects are based on the Interface Definition Language application programming interface and generate remote calls to the server which in turn are managed by server objects. The project will also create the necessary mechanisms to enable Distributed Computing Environment users that have the previous version of the DEC XInterface Definition Language compiler to take advantage of the C++ libraries.
