APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING SERVICE ORIENTED, MESSAGE-BASED INTERPROCESS COMMUNICATION IN A NETWORKED COMPUTING SYSTEM

摘要

An object-oriented apparatus and method are disclosed for providing message-based inter-process communication resources (50, 55) which allow a programmer to efficiently implement programs that perform inter-process communication between various processes (20, 21) in a computer network. The resources, which typically adhere to a client/server model, are provided in a manner such that a programmer can specify a particular inter-process communication task independently of whether the communicating processes are: (i) executing on the same or different hosts; (ii) executing in user or kernel space; (iii) executing on hosts with compatible or incompatible byte-orderings; and, (iv) executing on hosts linked by byte-based or message-based communication protocols. Programs coded using the provided inter-process communication resources, when executing in a network, automatically invoke appropriate conformance and/or enveloping procedures to assure reliable, message-based inter-process communication.