[omniORB] omniORB for NT control of Realtime System?

Sai-Lai Lo S.Lo@orl.co.uk
Mon, 6 Apr 1998 12:41:42 +0100


David,

I think CORBA fits in very well with the requirement of your application.

A few points to consider:

1. We do not know if omniORB2 will run on ETS-Kernel. You have to spend
   some time to verify this yourself. In particular, does its winsock
   allows individual threads to block separately on different sockets?
 
2. The GUI is written in Borland C++ Builder 3. I'm not sure if you can
   link VC++ objects to the Borland code. If not, you have to go through
   the hurdle of porting omniORB2 to run on Borland C++. It may just be a
   matter of fiddling with the make configuration files and compiler flags.
   On the other hand, you may hit some compiler bugs and have to find work
   arounds. It is a depressingly common occurrance...


> What would be the most expedient way to implement the required CORBA
> functionality under ETS-Kernel?  Any Win32 C++ code should work, or at
> least be a huge first step.  However, ETS-Kernel is NOT multi-tasking,
> although it does support multiple threads.  So I wouldn't be able to run
> the Naming Service as a separate executable from the application.  But
> I'm a CORBA novice, so I don't know if I even need to run this service!

The Naming service can run anywhere on the network.


> I'm a very experienced software developer, but I have almost no knowledge of
> CORBA.  What's the best way to learn CORBA?

I suppose the best way to learn CORBA is to use it. As a start, try running
the examples in omniORB2 and read the "basics" chapter in the user
guide. If you have some experience with RPC systems, you can bootstrap
yourselves pretty easily. There are more and more books on CORBA. I suppose
they may help in some ways. But if you are an experienced programmer, you
might prefer to read the source code instead...


Regards,

Sai-Lai

-- 
Dr. Sai-Lai Lo                          |       Research Scientist
                                        |
E-mail:         S.Lo@orl.co.uk          |       Olivetti & Oracle Research Lab
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