Interface Definition Language

(IDL) 1. An OSF standard for defining RPC stubs.

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: <idl-cfe@sun.com>.

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.

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IDL

(1) (Interface Definition Language, Interface Description Language) A language used to describe the interface to a software component or routine in a manner that is not dependent on a particular programming language or operating system. Because an IDL is independent of language and machine, it enables communications between applications running in different operating environments. For example, the Web Services Description Language (WSDL) discloses the interface for routines that provide Web services. Likewise, the CORBA system, a service oriented architecture (SOA) that predates Web services, uses an IDL. See WSDL and CORBA.

(2) (Interactive Data Language) An interpreted programming language from ITT Visual Information Solutions, Boulder, CO (www.ittvis.com), formerly Research Systems, Inc., that runs on Windows, Mac and various Unix platforms. It is used to write image processing and visualization applications. Well known products written in IDL include Research Systems' own ENVI software and the RiverTools application from Rivix, LLC.

A Scientific and Aerospace Influence
Initially created for NASA astronomers by David Stern, founder of RSI in 1977, IDL provides high-level commands for accessing images, performing data analyses and displaying 3D objects. IDL includes a complete development environment and also comes as an ActiveX control so that its routines can be accessed from user interfaces written in other languages such as Visual Basic. IDL On the Net, or ION, is a family of products that lets applications be shared across a network. IDL VM (Virtual Machine) is a free runtime utility that allows distribution of compiled IDL code applets.

In 2000, Eastman Kodak acquired RSI as a wholly owned subsidiary, then sold it to ITT Corporation in 2004, along with its Remote Sensing Systems division.

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