Resources: standards and architectures

CORBA® BASICS
If you want to understand CORBA, this is the place to start!
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CORBA is the acronym for Common Object Request Broker Architecture, OMG's open, vendor-independent architecture and infrastructure that computer applications use to work together over networks. Using the standard protocol IIOP, a CORBA-based program from any vendor, on almost any computer, operating system, programming language, and network, can interoperate with a CORBA-based program from the same or another vendor, on almost any other computer, operating system, programming language, and network.

Innovative use of telematic tools to support a professional community of practice, Mike Malloch and Graham Attwell, Online EDUCA Berlin, 2001

# In software, the word component has an emerging meaning generalizing the idea of a software pattern, software object, software framework and software architecture. software componentry can be any of these. See also: component software theory, software component. A standard way to implement a component is as a class object (object-oriented programming)

Software architecture is a coherent set of abstract patterns guiding the design of each aspect of a larger software system.

Software architecture underlies the practice of building computer software. In the same way as a building architect sets the principles and goals of a building project as the basis for the draftsman's plans, so too, a software architect sets out the software architecture as a basis for actual system design specifications, per the requirements of the client.

Something proprietary is something exclusively owned by someone, often with connotations that it is exclusive and cannot be used by other parties without negotiations. It may specifically mean that something is covered by one or more patents, as in proprietary technology. It can also mean that the copyright is used in a way that restricts the users' freedoms.

Increasingly, proprietary architectures are seen as a disadvantage. Consumers prefer standardized and open architectures, which allow them to mix and match products from different manufacturers.

An architecture whose specifications are public. This includes officially approved standards as well as privately designed architectures whose specifications are made public by the designers. The opposite of open is closed or proprietary.

The great advantage of open architectures is that anyone can design add-on products for it. By making an architecture public, however, a manufacturer allows others to duplicate its product. Linux, for example, is considered open architecture because its source code is available to the public for free. In contrast, DOS, Windows, and the Macintosh architecture and operating system have been predominantly closed. Many lawsuits have been filed over the use of these architectures in clone machines. For example, IBM issued a Cease and Desist order, followed by a battery of lawsuits, when COMPAQ built its first computers.

(n.) A design. The term architecture can refer to either hardware or software, or to a combination of hardware and software. The architecture of a system always defines its broad outlines, and may define precise mechanisms as well.

An open architecture allows the system to be connected easily to devices and programs made by other manufacturers. Open architectures use off-the-shelf components and conform to approved standards. A system with a closed architecture, on the other hand, is one whose design is proprietary, making it difficult to connect the system to other systems.

What is software architecture?

There is no standard, universally-accepted definition of the term, “software architecture,” although there is no shortage of definitions, either. The following sections attempt to capture an appropriate cross section of what is meant by software architecture. The first section includes definitions from recent works on software architecture. The second section provides the "Classic Definitions," a brief tour through some of the more important or influential ones. These definitions are followed by additional definitions from articles taken from our software architecture bibliography. Lastly, definitions are listed that Web visitors have suggested (complete list, new listings only).

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

OpenDoc was a multi-platform software componentry framework standard for compound documents, inspired by the Xerox Star system and intended as an alternative to Microsoft's object linking and embedding (OLE).