Introducing Java IDL

Previously, you learned that OMG provides an IDL mapping for each language that supports CORBA. You also learned that Sun's implementation of the OMG Java mapping is known as Java IDL, or to be more precise, Java IDL supports the OMG IDL mapping for Java. Using Java IDL, you can write, instantiate, and consume distributed objects that comply with CORBA. If you are an experienced Java programmer but not an experienced CORBA programmer, you may want to look at RMI over IIOP (the next section of this lesson introduces you to RMI over IIOP). This provides similar functionality without the need to write any IDL. In the context of J2EE, you will virtually always use RMI over IIOP when interacting with CORBA objects. Therefore, this lesson shows you how to use RMI over IIOP rather than Java IDL. If you want to discover more about Java IDL, refer to the current documentation available at Sun Microsystems' Web site.