Re: Distributed Systems Annex, data sharing between programs

[Niklas Holsti <niklas.holsti@tidorum.invalid>]

On 12-06-06 09:39 , Maciej Sobczak wrote:
> On 5 Cze, 18:02, Adam Beneschan<a...@irvine.com>  wrote:
>
>>   I still think this would be useful in some situations--for example, if the server and clients were expected to be used within one company (or one division of a company), so that it might be reasonable to expect that all programs be written in a common language.
>
> I'm afraid not even then. My work consists mostly of implementing
> middleware solutions for multi-language (mostly C++/Java) systems that
> are developed within the same division of a single company. I seem to
> see this pattern more and more often, wherever I go.
>
> Interestingly, even if you focus on programs written by the same
> person (you cannot get more control than that, right?), there is still
> no guarantee that they will be written in the same language, as
> different languages have different features and tradeoffs that justify
> their use in different contexts. Java-based GUI displays for Ada-based
> backends that are configured by Python-based scripts, all using C++-
> based databases? Better get used to that.
>
> This is what makes single-language-distributed-systems solutions kind
> of pointless.

The fact that *some* distributed systems are multi-language does not 
mean that a single-language solution is pointless. Insufficient, perhaps.

Multi-language distributed systems tend to be built with 
language-independent middleware. There is not much to discuss about 
them, from a language-centered point of view (as in c.l.a.). 
Language-specific bindings to IDLs come closest. In your experience, are 
IDLs like CORBA used today? Or just sockets with ad-hoc protocols?

-- 
Niklas Holsti
Tidorum Ltd
niklas holsti tidorum fi
       .      @       .