Re: image/data loader CORBA instance?

[Michael Zucchi <zucchi zedzone box net au>]

Hi again,

> 
> I'm not sure if this is the way to go. You only benefit from this if you
> although define a set of TAGs which must be implemented by all
> applications. The object oriented design and the inheritance hierarchy is
> then defined by the TAGs. But couldn't this be done although by a good
> class definition.  For sure you can send an arbitrary TAG to an object and
> see if it can respond to it, define Forwardes, Protocols and so on. It is
> perhaps more like Objective-C.=20

BOOPSI was the class system.  Each class 'step' in the heirarchy only
has to implement those tags and operations it knows about - others can
be passed to its "superclass".  It is next to trivial to build up
complex heirarchies of objects without duplication of code.

(i.e. the routing is based on the object heirarchy and the 'dispatch'
code itself).  In this sense it is identical to GTK's object system.

> For CORBA this would mean, that you define one IDL for all objects with a
> few functions that deal with message passing between the objects. The rest
> is all done within one mesage handler in the object. Therefore you don't
> need CORBA.=20

Thats basically my point.  I dont see corba as an appropriate
technology for this kind of thing.  There is basically NIL advantage,
a huge overhead, and version dependence down to the interface
definition (which will have to be large and complex itself).

If you have an image object, and do
object=NewImageObjectWithName("blah.gif"); it still doesn't define how
the "image" class works out a "gif" subclass is needed (and nvoked) to
create the image itself - it has to be coded anyway.  And then when it
coems to rendering that 'object' (etc) where's the inheritance (or
overload, if thats whats wanted) ...

Corba makes sense for 'active' objects, like servers or satellites, or
mobile telephones and so on, but for passive objects (like gui
components, or images) its a bit of overkill.

 Z
-- 
     ///   `... thinking is an exercise to which all too few brains
    ///     are accustomed.' - First Lensman, E.E. `Doc' Smith
\\\///  
 \\\/   Michael Zucchi, B.E.                 zucchi@zedzone.box.net.au