INTERFACE DESCRIPTION LANGUAGE

Domain	Definition
Computing	Interface Description Language (IDL) A language designed by Nestor, Lamb and Wulf of CMU in 1981 for describing the data structures passed between parts of an application, to provide a language-independent intermediate representation. It forms part of Richard Snodgrass 's Scorpion environment development system. Not to be confused with any of the other IDLs. Mailing list: info-idl@sei.cmu.edu. ["The Interface Description Language: Definition and Use," by Richard Snodgrass, Computer Science Press, 1989, ISBN 0-7167-8198-0]. [SIGPLAN Notices 22(11) (Nov 1987) special issue]. (1994-11-11). Source: The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Specialty Definition: Interface description language

An interface description language, (alternatively interface definition language) (IDL), is a computer language or simple syntax for describing the interface of a software component. It is essentially a common language for writing the "manual" on how to use a piece of software from another piece of software, in much the same fashion that a user manual describes how to use a piece of software to the user.

IDLs are used in situations where the software on either side may not share common "call semantics", referring to the way the computer language "talks" to the routines. For instance, C and Pascal have different ways of calling routines, and in general cannot call code written in the other language. IDLs are a subset of both, a general language to which both can conform to enable language-independent code.

IDLs are most commonly found in software intended to allow routines to be called on other machines, known as remote procedure call. In these cases the call semantics may vary not only between languages, but also due to the architecture of the machines themselves.

An IDL is part of COM, XPCOM and CORBA, and SOAP for Web Services.

Alternative Orthography: INTERFACE DESCRIPTION LANGUAGE

Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)

49 4E 54 45 52 46 41 43 45 44 45 53 43 52 49 50 54 49 4F 4E 4C 41 4E 47 55 41 47 45

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)

Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)

01001001 01001110 01010100 01000101 01010010 01000110 01000001 01000011 01000101 00100000 01000100 01000101 01010011 01000011 01010010 01001001 01010000 01010100 01001001 01001111 01001110 00100000 01001100 01000001 01001110 01000111 01010101 01000001 01000111 01000101

HTML Code (1990) (references)

&#73 &#78 &#84 &#69 &#82 &#70 &#65 &#67 &#69 &#32 &#68 &#69 &#83 &#67 &#82 &#73 &#80 &#84 &#73 &#79 &#78 &#32 &#76 &#65 &#78 &#71 &#85 &#65 &#71 &#69

ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)

0049 004E 0054 0045 0052 0046 0041 0043 0045 0044 0045 0053 0043 0052 0049 0050 0054 0049 004F 004E 004C 0041 004E 0047 0055 0041 0047 0045

Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)

INTERFACE DESCRIPTION LANGUAGE

Specialty Definition: INTERFACE DESCRIPTION LANGUAGE

Computing

Specialty Definition: Interface description language

Crosswords: INTERFACE DESCRIPTION LANGUAGE

Alternative Orthography: INTERFACE DESCRIPTION LANGUAGE

49 4E 54 45 52 46 41 43 45 44 45 53 43 52 49 50 54 49 4F 4E 4C 41 4E 47 55 41 47 45

01001001 01001110 01010100 01000101 01010010 01000110 01000001 01000011 01000101 00100000 01000100 01000101 01010011 01000011 01010010 01001001 01010000 01010100 01001001 01001111 01001110 00100000 01001100 01000001 01001110 01000111 01010101 01000001 01000111 01000101

&#73 &#78 &#84 &#69 &#82 &#70 &#65 &#67 &#69 &#32 &#68 &#69 &#83 &#67 &#82 &#73 &#80 &#84 &#73 &#79 &#78 &#32 &#76 &#65 &#78 &#71 &#85 &#65 &#71 &#69

0049 004E 0054 0045 0052 0046 0041 0043 0045 0044 0045 0053 0043 0052 0049 0050 0054 0049 004F 004E 004C 0041 004E 0047 0055 0041 0047 0045

4348543952403537392383953375243505443494824635484155354139

INDEX