[3] TABLE OF CONTENTS — EXHAUSTIVE
(Part of the CORBA FAQ, Copyright © 1996-99)

[0] THE CORBA FAQ — FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[1] AUTHORS, COPYRIGHT, PERMISSIONS, INTENDED AUDIENCE, NAVIGATION

• [1.1] The Authors (Alphabetically)
• [1.2] About Rob Appelbaum
• [1.3] About Lester Claudio
• [1.4] About Jim Watson
• [1.5] About Marshall Cline
• [1.6] About Mike Girou
• [1.7] Copyright Notice
• [1.8] No Warranty
• [1.9] Copying Permissions
• [1.10] Trademarks
• [1.11] What the Intended Audience Looks Like
• [1.12] “Morality” in addition to just “Legality”
• [1.13] Tutorial
• [1.14] Four Different Ways to Navigate the CORBA FAQ
• [1.15] How can I get a Copy of all the HTML files of the CORBA FAQ so I can read them Off-Line?
• [1.16] How can I get a Copy of all the “plaintext” files of the CORBA FAQ so I can read them Off-Line?
• [1.17] Why is the download via email? Why not via ftp?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[2] TABLE OF CONTENTS — OVERVIEW

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[3] TABLE OF CONTENTS — EXHAUSTIVE

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[4] ALPHABETICAL LIST OF ALL FAQS

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[5] SUBJECT INDEX

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[6] RECENT CHANGES

• [6.1] What is the chain of recently updated FAQs?
• [6.2] What updates were made to the CORBA FAQ for the 1999-10 (Oct 1999) release?
• [6.3] What updates were made to the CORBA FAQ for the 1999-03 (Mar 1999) release?
• [6.4] What updates were made to the CORBA FAQ for the 1998-12 (Dec 1998) release?
• [6.5] What updates were made to the CORBA FAQ for the 1998-11 (Nov 1998) release?
• [6.6] What updates were made to the CORBA FAQ for the 1998-05 (May 1998) release?
• [6.7] What updates were made to the CORBA FAQ for the 1997-07 (Jul 1997) release?
• [6.8] What updates were made to the CORBA FAQ for the 1997-02 (Feb 1997) release?
• [6.9] What updates were made to the CORBA FAQ for the 1997-01 (Jan 1997) release?
• [6.10] What updates were made to the CORBA FAQ for the 1996-12 (Dec 1996) release?
• [6.11] What updates were made to the CORBA FAQ for the 1996-11 (Nov 1996) release?
• [6.12] What updates were made to the CORBA FAQ for the 1996-10 (Oct 1996) release?
• [6.13] What updates were made to the CORBA FAQ for the 1996-09 (Sep 1996) release?
• [6.14] What updates were made to the CORBA FAQ for the 1996-08 (Aug 1996) release?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[7] NETIQUETTE WHEN POSTING TO COMP.OBJECT.CORBA

• [7.1] How can I find out about general netiquette so I don’t embarrass myself?
• [7.2] What does IMHO mean? (or IMO, IMNSHO, FWIW, OTOH, etc.)?
• [7.3] How do I get comp.object.corba to do my homework problem for me?
• [7.4] What should I do if I see someone else posting a homework problem?
• [7.5] What do I do if someone else posts a question that’s already in the FAQ?
• [7.6] What makes a good “Subject:” line?
• [7.7] How do I post a question about code that doesn’t work correctly?
• [7.8] Which newsgroup should I post my questions?
• [7.9] How do I get the FAQs for a particular newsgroup?
• [7.10] In addition to these FAQs, what other useful URLs might I be interested in?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[8] WHY USE DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING

• [8.1] Can Distributed Computing Enhance my Performance?
• [8.2] How is a Distributed Database related to Distributed Computing?
• [8.3] Can Distributed Computing solve Business Problems?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[9] WHY USE DISTRIBUTED OBJECTS

• [9.1] What is a Distributed Object?
• [9.2] Are all Distributed Objects CORBA Objects?
• [9.3] Why should I develop Applications with Distributed Objects?
• [9.4] How are Distributed Objects actually implemented?
• [9.5] Should all my Objects be Distributed?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[10] WHY USE CORBA

• [10.1] What is the Basic Functionality provided by CORBA?
• [10.2] What Advantages does CORBA provide?
• [10.3] What other types of Distributed Systems does CORBA compete with?
• [10.4] Is CORBA {better,worse} than {DCOM,COM+,Java RMI,DCE,etc}?
• [10.5] Okay, okay, but now tell the truth: Is CORBA {better,worse} than {DCOM,COM+,Java RMI,DCE,etc}?
• [10.6] If you’re only going to use Java, is CORBA excessive?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[11] HOW TO DO CLIENT/SERVER WITH CORBA

• [11.1] How can CORBA enable Client/Server Communication?
• [11.2] Do any Client/Server Limitations exist with CORBA?
• [11.3] I need a CORBA ORB? Where can I get one?
• [11.4] Are remote invocations blocking operations?
• [11.5] Can dead locks occur between CORBA servers?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[12] CHOOSING BETWEEN CORBA AND DCOM

• [12.1] I use Microsoft products; Why should I use CORBA and not DCOM?
• [12.2] Must I choose between DCOM and CORBA?
• [12.3] Is CORBA more Mature than DCOM?
• [12.4] What Advantages does DCOM have over CORBA?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[13] CHOOSING BETWEEN CORBA AND DCE

• [13.1] I use DCE products; Why should I use CORBA and not DCE?
• [13.2] Must I choose between DCE and CORBA?
• [13.3] Is CORBA more Mature than DCE?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[14] CHOOSING BETWEEN CORBA AND EJB

• [14.1] Why should I use CORBA and not EJB?
• [14.2] Must I choose between EJB and CORBA?
• [14.3] Is CORBA more Mature than EJB?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[15] HOW REAL/MATURE IS CORBA?

• [15.1] So, how real/mature is CORBA?
• [15.2] Where are some CORBA success stories?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[16] HOW DOES CORBA RELATE TO DOING INTERNET/INTRANET APPLICATIONS?

• [16.1] Can CORBA Objects be accessed by Web Based Applications?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[17] HOW TO DO NOTIFICATION WITH CORBA

• [17.1] Can CORBA Allow Servers to cause Client Side Events or Notifications?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[18] ARCHITECTURAL CHOICES — CONCURRENT VS. DISTRIBUTED VS. DECOUPLED [under construction]

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[19] ASYNCHRONOUS COMMUNICATIONS

• [19.1] Why would Applications require Asynchronous Communications?
• [19.2] Does CORBA support Asynchronous Communication?
• [19.3] Are Application Threading and Asynchronous Communication related?
• [19.4] Are there Important Forms of Asynchronous Communication that Aren’t Supported Directly by CORBA?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[20] MULTI-THREADED ARCHITECTURES

• [20.1] Can CORBA applications be multi-threaded?
• [20.2] Why would I decide to implement a CORBA client application with multi-threading?
• [20.3] Why would I decide to implement a CORBA server application with multi-threading?
• [20.4] Are there different threading models that can be used within CORBA servers?
• [20.5] Are there reasons to avoid the development of multi-threaded CORBA applications ?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[21] APPLICATION ARCHITECTURES

• [21.1] Does CORBA define High Level Application Architectures?
• [21.2] Do Common Application Architectures Exist?
• [21.3] Can CORBA Applications Have Callbacks?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[22] OBJECT REFERENCES

• [22.1] What is an Object Reference?
• [22.2] Why a Handle rather than a “Hard” Address?
• [22.3] For How Long is an Object Reference Valid?
• [22.4] What if I want a Persistent Reference?
• [22.5] I want to be an expert. How do I Stringify an Object Reference?
• [22.6] What is the Format of an Object Reference?
• [22.7] Who creates Object References?
• [22.8] How do I Compare References?
• [22.9] Great. What other Surprises are there with is_equivalent()?
• [22.10] Is that All of the Bad News about is_equivalent()?
• [22.11] So why don’t we just Compare Stringified References?
• [22.12] This sounds Too Complicated. Should I just learn DCOM instead?
• [22.13] Why do you say, “Most people never need this kind of knowledge”?
• [22.14] Then why did you just Drag us through the Mud?
• [22.15] How are Object References declared in C?
• [22.16] How are Object References handled in C++?
• [22.17] When do I use _var instead of _ptr?
• [22.18] What if I want to invoke Methods on an Object in another ORB?
• [22.19] Does an IOR have a Defined Format and, if so, Why?
• [22.20] What is the Format of an IOR?
• [22.21] What is a Tag?
• [22.22] What is a Profile?
• [22.23] What is the Difference between the two Types of Profiles?
• [22.24] Why did you say that the Specific Details Probably Shouldn’t Matter?
• [22.25] But how does my program use an IOR?
• [22.26] This Expert Stuff isn’t so tough. What about Stringifying an IOR?
• [22.27] When I obtain an object reference, what determines if it is an IOR or just an OR?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[23] FACTORIES AND FACTORY FINDERS

• [23.1] What is a Factory?
• [23.2] What are some typical types of factories?
• [23.3] Does the CORBA specification define any specific capabilities for a factory object?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[24] REFERENCE COUNTING ARCHITECTURES

• [24.1] What is a distributed reference counting architecture?
• [24.2] Why would an application implement a distributed reference counting architecture?
• [24.3] Does CORBA support distributed reference counting architectures?
• [24.4] What problems might be associated with a distributed reference counting architecture?
• [24.5] Is there an alternative to distributed reference counting architectures?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[25] PERFORMANCE ISSUES

• [25.1] Can CORBA Applications be Tuned for Better Performance?
• [25.2] Do Different CORBA Implementations Perform at Significantly Different Levels?
• [25.3] What Types of Performance should I be Concerned With?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[26] INTEROPERABILITY OVERVIEW

• [26.1] What is Interoperability?
• [26.2] How does CORBA Support Interoperability?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[27] MISCELLANEOUS ISSUES

• [27.1] Should I use Underscores (“_”) in the Names of Interfaces and/or Methods?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[28] BASIC CORBA ARCHITECTURE

• [28.1] What is the basic CORBA architecture?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[29] CORBA OBJECTS

• [29.1] How are CORBA Objects Defined?
• [29.2] What Capabilities do CORBA Objects Possess?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[30] PSEUDO OBJECTS

• [30.1] What are CORBA Pseudo Objects?
• [30.2] Why are Pseudo Objects Needed?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[31] INTERFACE DEFINITION LANGUAGE (IDL)

• [31.1] What is the purpose of IDL?
• [31.2] Do I program in IDL?
• [31.3] Is IDL a Specification Language, an Implementation Language, or Both?
• [31.4] Does my implementation need to use Inheritance just because my IDL intrerface uses Inheritance?
• [31.5] How do I express Aggregation in IDL?
• [31.6] Does CORBA have support for C++ virtual functions?
• [31.7] Is it true that CORBA IDL can specify inheritance but not “virtual” methods?
• [31.8] What is a Good IDL Interface?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[32] SKELETONS AND IMPLEMENTATION OBJECTS

• [32.1] How does a CORBA Object provide its services?
• [32.2] How are the skeleton and implementation object combined?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[33] OBJECT REFERENCES — DETAILS

• [33.1] How are object references obtained by applications?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[34] LANGUAGE MAPPINGS

• [34.1] What is a Language Mapping?
• [34.2] What are the Current Language Mappings for CORBA?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[35] STATIC INVOCATION

• [35.1] What is the Static Invocation Interface?
• [35.2] Which is the best mechanism to invoke operations on an Object?
• [35.3] How does a ORB support Static Invocation Interface?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[36] DYNAMIC INVOCATION

• [36.1] What is the Static Invocation Interface?
• [36.2] Under what conditions is DII appropriate?
• [36.3] What is the deferred synchronous invocation?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[37] DYNAMIC SKELETON INTERFACE

• [37.1] What is the Dynamic Skeleton Interface?
• [37.2] Under what conditions is DSI appropriate?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[38] ANY

• [38.1] What is an Any?
• [38.2] How Does an Any Represent its Runtime Type?
• [38.3] When Would I Use an Any?
• [38.4] Okay, so Why Not Use Anys All the Time?
• [38.5] An Any Seems Very Dynamic, So What’s a Dynamic Any?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[39] TYPECODE

• [39.1] What is a Typecode?
• [39.2] Do All Types Have a Typecode?
• [39.3] What are the Typecodes for the Built-in IDL Types?
• [39.4] What are the Typecodes for the User-Defined Types?
• [39.5] How Do I Get an Object’s Typecode

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[40] INTERFACE REPOSITORY

• [40.1] What is the Interface Repository?
• [40.2] Why does CORBA need the Interface Repository?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[41] BOA

• [41.1] What is the BOA?
• [41.2] What are the Four BOA Activation Policies for a CORBA Server?
• [41.3] Are there any other activation policies for CORBA objects?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[42] POA

• [42.1] What is the POA?
• [42.2] Why is the POA Needed?
• [42.3] Does the POA Affect Clients?
• [42.4] Does the POA Affect Servers?
• [42.5] How does the POA Benefit Non-Distributed Objects?
• [42.6] How Does the POA Manage Object Lifecycle?
• [42.7] How Does the POA Make the Association Between Servants and CORBA Objects?
• [42.8] “For a Given POA”, Can There be More Than One?
• [42.9] How are Multiple POAs Distinguished?
• [42.10] How are Multiple POAs Organized?
• [42.11] What are the Semantics of the POA Hierarchy?
• [42.12] Where does the POA Manager Fit In?
• [42.13] What are the POA Polices?
• [42.14] What is a Servant Manager?
• [42.15] How does a Request Get to the Right POA and Right Servant?
• [42.16] How does the POA Support Object Relocation?
• [42.17] How Do I Migrate from BOA to POA?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[43] INTEROPERABILITY — DETAILS

• [43.1] What is important for Interoperability besides IIOP?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[44] IIOP

• [44.1] What is an IOR?
• [44.2] Are IORs obtained in the Same Manner as Object References?
• [44.3] Can an Application refer to Objects implemented with Multiple CORBA Products?
• [44.4] Can CORBA Vendors Simplify Interoperability and the Process of Obtaining Other Vendor’s Object References?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[45] INITIALIZATION SERVICE

• [45.1] What is the Initialization Service?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[46] NAME SERVICE

• [46.1] What are the IDL Interfaces defined within the COSNaming Module?
• [46.2] How do I use a NameContext?
• [46.3] What if I Do Not Know the Name of the Object?
• [46.4] What is the Interoperable Name Service (INS)?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[47] EVENT SERVICE

• [47.1] What is the Event Service?
• [47.2] Are there more than one type of Event Service?
• [47.3] What is the quality of service provided by the Event Service?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[48] NOTIFICATION SERVICE

• [48.1] What is Notification Service?
• [48.2] How does the Notification Service work?
• [48.3] How does the Notification Service extend the Event Service?
• [48.4] What does the Quality of Service give me?
• [48.5] When do I need a service like Notification?
• [48.6] How do I define Notification Events?
• [48.7] Can I federate Notification Channels?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[49] LIFECYCLE SERVICE

• [49.1] What is the purpose of the Lifecycle Service?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[50] OBJECT TRANSACTION SERVICE

• [50.1] What is the purpose of the Object Transaction Service?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[51] TRADER SERVICE

• [51.1] What is the purpose of the COS Trader Service?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[52] PERSISTENT OBJECT SERVICE

• [52.1] What is the purpose of the Persistent Object Service?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[53] PERSISTENT STATE SERVICE

• [53.1] What is the purpose of the Persistent State Service?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[54] OBJECTS BY VALUE (OBV)

• [54.1] What are Objects By Value?
• [54.2] How Can I Use OBV?
• [54.3] What Does OBV Really Provide?
• [54.4] What is a Value Type?
• [54.5] In What Cases Do I Need a Value Type?
• [54.6] How Does a Value Type Differ from an Interface Type?
• [54.7] What is an Abstract Value Type?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[55] ASYNCHRONOUS MESSAGING INTERFACE

• [55.1] What is the purpose of the Asynchronous Messaging Interface?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[56] FIREWALL SPECIFICATION [under construction]

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[57] CORBA AND XML

• [57.1] Can CORBA be integrated with XML?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[58] READING LIST

• [58.1] Is there a CORBA Reading List?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

[59] CORBA ACRONYMS

• [59.1] There are a lot of Acronyms in CORBA. What do they mean?

[ Top | Bottom | Previous section | Next section ]

 E-mail us