Distributed Computing Environments

Distributed software development is increasingly critical to fully utilizing today's distributed computer systems. In the ideal distributed environment, various software components, developed independently on various platforms, are integrated as needed to produce end-user applications that run on a network of machines. Software components are selected oo-the-shelf, i.e. from a repository of tested and easy-to-integrate components. Each component is executed in the most appropriate environment without regard to the location of the calling component. To make distributed development feasible, applications developers must be able to incorporate remote components as easily as local ones. Distributed computing environments are described at an abstract level, with particular emphasis on distributed object environments (using object request brokers). Two systems are described in detail, the Java programming language environment, and the Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA).