[59] CORBA ACRONYMS
(Part of the CORBA FAQ, Copyright © 1996-99)

[59.1] THERE ARE A LOT OF ACRONYMS IN CORBA. WHAT DO THEY MEAN?

[Recently created (3/1999) and added more acronyms (10/1999). Click here to go to the next FAQ in the “chain” of recent changes]

Here is a list of common acronyms and definitions:

• AMI - Asynchronous Messaging Interface. This is an extension of CORBA functionality into a complete messaging semantics (as opposed to request brokering). This includes various modes of communication between the originator and recipient and also various qualities of service.
• AOM - Active Object Map. Part of the POA. The AOM is used to maintain the relationship between Object IDs and servants.
• BOA - Basic Object Adapter. An object adapter is the way in which a programming langange object in the server is associated with a CORBA object. The BOA loosely describes an inheritance and delegation based approach. The BOA has been deprecated and is superceeded by the POA.
• COM - Component Object Model. The architecture and implementation of request/response technology from Microsoft.
• CORBA - Common Object Request Broker Architecture. This is a specification by the OMG for the architecture, not implementation, of ORBs.
• COS - CORBA Object Service. This is a label for a broad set of add-on services that extend the core CORBA specification.
• DCE - Distributed Computing Environment. This is a distributed computing architecture developed by the OSF before CORBA.
• DCOM - Distributed Component Object Model (COM). The architecture and implementation of the distributed request/response technology from Microsoft.
• DII - Dynamic Invocation Interface. A client-side API used to generate network messages. This API is independent of any IDL, and hence very generic, but more tedious to use than the IDL-described API. See also SII.
• DSI - Dynamic Skeleton Interface. A server-side API used to handle receipt of network messages. This API is independent of any IDL, and hence very generic, but more tedious to use than the IDL-described API. See also SSI.
• DTD - Document Type Description. Part of XML, the DTD is the meta-data for a document.
• ESIOP - Environment Specific Inter-ORB Protocol. The implementation of GIOP for a non-TCP/IP environment, e.g., DCE.
• GIOP - General Inter-ORB Protocol. The high level specification of wire protocol in CORBA 2.0. All CORBA 2.0 compliant ORBs use this common wire protocol specification, which allows clients and servers using different ORBs to interoperate. GIOP is implemented using a network protocol. See IIOP and ESIOP.
• HTML - HyperText Markup Language. The primary web page description language, whether used directly or via some higher level web page generation tool.
• HTTP - HyperText Transport Protocol. The primary web communications protocol.
• IDL - Interface Defintion Language. This is the programming-language-independent language used to describe CORBA interfaces.
• IFR - Interface Repository. The CORBA Service (Server) that stores meta-data about IDL interfaces.
• IIOP - Internet Inter-ORB Protocol. The implementation of GIOP for TCP/IP.
• INS - Interoperable Naming Service. One of the CORBA services. The Interoperable Naming Service functions just like the Naming Service, holding bindings between human-meaningful names and Object References (IORs). The Interoperable Naming Service provides additional under the covers interoperability support between multiple ORB vendors.
• IOR - Interoperable Object Reference. An Object Reference (OR) is the way a CORBA Object is named. The IOR is the CORBA 2.0 compliant format for a standard representation of an OR for all ORB vendors.
• NS - Naming Service. One of the CORBA services. The Naming Service holds bindings between human-meaningful names and Object References (IORs).
• OBV - Objects By Value. An extension to the CORBA specification that introduces a new object type that has semantics from both interfaces and structs.
• OMG - Object Management Group. This is the non-profit organization that oversees CORBA specifications and marketing.
• OR - Object Reference. This is the way CORBA objects are identified.
• ORB - Object Request Broker.
• OSF - Open Software Foundation.
• OTM - Object Transaction Monitor. A set of CORBA Services for developing Enterprise systems.
• OTS - Object Transaction Service. A CORBA Service for managing distributed transactions.
• PIDL - Pseudo Interface Definition Language (Pseudo IDL). This is identical to IDL, however is not used for describing a remotely accessed CORBA Object but rather an object in the CORBA infrastructure that is implicitly local.
• POA - Portable Object Adapter. An object adapter is the way in which a programming langange object in the server is associated with a CORBA object. The POA describes a full set of models and policies for managing object life-cycles.
• POS - Persistence Object Service. A deprecated CORBA Service for storing the state of implementation objects into a database. The PSS superceeds the POS.
• PSS - Persistence State Service. A CORBA Service for storing the state of implementation objects into a database. The PSS superceeds the POS.
• SII - Static Invocation Interface (or Stub Invocation Interface). This is the client-side API for generating network messages that is based on the stubs that are code-generated by the IDL compiler for a given IDL interface. See also DII.
• SSI - Static Skeleton Interface. This is the server-side API for handling receipt of network messages that is based on the skeletons that are code-generated by the IDL compiler for a given IDL interface. See also DSI.
• TCP/IP - Transport Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. A low-level network protocol used on the internet and many internal networks.
• TP - Transaction Processor. Typically used as TP Monitor. A kind of middleware that manages connections and transactions to databases.
• XML - Extended Markup Language. An extension to HTML that separates the document’s definition, content, and presentation (style).

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