[157] in OS/2_Discussion
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daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Bernie Thompson)
Fri Mar 18 14:39:22 1994
From: bernie@bjt105.rh.psu.edu (Bernie Thompson)
To: os2www@MIT.EDU
Date: Fri, 18 Mar 1994 13:48:47 -0500 (EST)
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Making Reuse a Reality #
Introducing the SOMobjects Developer Toolkit
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Object oriented (OO) technology represents a fundamental change in the concept
of software development. The promise of OO technology is for software objects
# segments of code combining data and procedures # to become standard, off-the-shelf
parts. A programmer can then incorporate these objects in a software system
as easily as an engineer incorporates an off-the-shelf semiconductor chip in
a circuit board design.
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The Future is Now
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Creating interchangeable, reusable software components is very much a reality
today: you can choose from a variety of object oriented programming languages,
design and analysis aids, and visual programming tools. You can also find OO
enablers and frameworks built into the latest releases of some operating systems,
including IBM Operating System/2R (OS/2R) Versions 2.0 and 2.1. What you haven't
been able to find # until now # are some key pieces needed to complete a system
that works as smoothly and openly as the hardware development process.
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Now, SOMobjectsE tools fill in some of these missing pieces by breaking objects
free from ties to a specific programming language. On a single machine, the
System Object Model (SOM) provides an object-structured protocol that allows
applications to access and use objects and object definitions, regardless of
what programming language created them, with no need to recompile the application.
SOM's language-neutral character not only allows robust software objects to
be easily used and reused wherever they're needed, it also enables a greater
degree of openness than ever before in the development and use of object oriented
programming (OOP) facilities across multiple operating platforms.
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What's more, SOMobjects incorporates Distributed SOM (DSOM) technology that
provides a base for OOP development and use over entire networks. With the
IBM SOMobjects Developer Toolkit Version 2.0, programmers can start taking
advantage of SOM and DSOM immediately. SOMobjects is available for both the
OS/2 2.0 (or higher) and the IBM AIX/6000E 3.2 (or higher) operating systems
and is planned for the WindowsE environment. Complying with industrywide standards
of the Object Management Group's (OMG)) Common Object Request Broker Architecture
(CORBA), SOMobjects provides an extensive set of facilities for putting the
power and speed of OO technology to work for you.
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Highlights of SOMobjects
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IBM's SOMobjects gives professional programmers a comprehensive toolkit for
creating OO class libraries and instances of those classes # that is, objects
that belong to particular classes # using SOM and DSOM technology. Among the
product's powerful functions and benefits are the following:
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Language-neutral support for the definition, construction and use of OO systems
# by defining an application programming interface (API) to SOM objects based
on simple procedure calls # allows applications written in different programming
languages to use a common class library.
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Upward binary compatibility of SOM class libraries, as dynamic link libraries
(DLLs) that can be replaced without requiring recompilation of application
source code, makes it easy for end users to install new releases of system
libraries.
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SOM/IDL Compiler is key to language neutrality and supports the OMG standard
Interface Definition Language (IDL). IDL gives individual object implementations
the means to tell potential clients what operations are available and how they
should be invoked. By mapping the public and private types for a given SOM
class to language-specific bindings, the compiler allows SOM objects to be
used by different programming languages.
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Distributed SOM supports OMG's CORBA standards: w Workstation DSOM provides
support for cross-process and cross-address transparent access to objects in
a single-system environment. w Workgroup DSOM enables you to define or access
objects remotely in a distributed workgroup local area network (LAN) configuration
across supported platforms (e.g., OS/2 to AIX/6000).
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Language bindings for C and C++ allow programmers in those languages to use
SOM objects and create new SOM object classes with ease. Other SOM bindings
may be available from language vendors.
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Replication Framework makes copies of a single object available concurrently
to multiple clients, and maintains consistency among the copies, with updates
to any one copy automatically reflected in all other copies. It's especially
useful for collaborative applications when you need updated information instantly.
Fault tolerance is provided to ensure object integrity in the event of a node
failure.
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Persistence Framework allows you to save and restore SOM objects to and from
a repository that can be a file system, database, or object database. You can
also change to another format (e.g., Lotus) to Excel)).
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Emitter Framework that produces an output file representing part or all of
an object interface definition # structured to minimize effort, improve quality,
and simplify maintenance # makes it easy to develop additional language bindings
for SOM.
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Collection Classes Framework gives programmers such frequently needed data
structures as lists, sets, queues, and dictionaries, and lets them inherit
from and use these SOM classes in applications, with no need to recode or retest
the functions.
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Workstation Enabler, for OS/2 or AIX/6000, enables the execution of SOM-based
applications in a single-machine environment.
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Workgroup Enabler, for OS/2 or AIX/6000, enables the execution of SOM-based
applications across a multiple-node workgroup LAN distributed environment.
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What You Get
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IBM's SOMobjects offers you several packages for the development and execution
of SOM-based applications in OS/2 and AIX/6000 environments. Each package is
available separately.
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SOMobjects Developer Toolkit Version 2.0 includes 3.5-inch diskettes containing
the basic SOM kernel (SOM/IDL Compiler and language bindings for C and C++)
and all of the frameworks, including Distributed SOM (DSOM). SOMobjects documentation
is provided in hardcopy with the SOMobjects Developer Toolkit, along with the
product license agreement.
[Part number 96F8647 for OS/2; part number 96F8648 for AIX]
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SOMobjects Workstation Enabler Version 2.0, for SOMobjects applications operating
on a single machine, includes the following: S SOM kernel runtime S DSOM
runtime S Persistence runtime S Replication runtime S Collection Classes
runtime S 3.5-inch diskettes containing the runtimes, as well as a hardcopy
installation/configuration guide and the product license agreement. [96F8673
for OS/2; 96F8674 for AIX]
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SOMobjects Workgroup Enabler Version 2.0 includes 3.5-inch diskettes containing
all of the runtimes listed above for the Workstation Enabler, but geared for
SOMobjects applications operating across a multi-node LAN. A hardcopy installation/configuration
guide and the product license agreement are also included. [96F8675 for OS/2;
96F8676 for AIX]
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SOMobjects Documentation is included with the SOMobjects Developer Toolkit.
This set of hardcopy publications is also available separately, as the SOMobjects
Developer Toolkit Publications Version 2.0 package. [Part number 96F8649]
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Ordering and Training Information
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U.S. 1-800-342-6672 S Canada 1-800-465-7999
Training 1-800-426-8322 Training 1-800-661-2131
