4 Writing and Compiling IDL

4.2 Compiling IDL for a CORBA application

Functional Developer includes an IDL compiler, Scepter, that it uses to check and compile IDL files into Dylan libraries. These libraries provide essential infrastructure for CORBA-based applications in Dylan.

The libraries are built according to the specification in Appendix A, "An IDL Binding for Dylan". That document is a draft specification for a standard mapping from CORBA IDL to the Dylan language. Briefly, the specification states that:

CORBA types are mapped to Dylan types and classes
CORBA interfaces are mapped to Dylan classes
CORBA interface inheritance is mapped to Dylan class inheritance
CORBA attributes are mapped to Dylan getter and setter functions
CORBA operations are mapped to Dylan generic functions
CORBA exceptions are mapped to Dylan conditions

IDL declarations are mapped to Dylan according to these rules. The resulting libraries provide a Dylan protocol equivalent to the IDL.