SOMobjects Developer Toolkit and Workgroup Enabler: Making reuse a reality

By IBM

Highlights
Language-neutral support for the definition, construction and use of object-oriented (OO) systems - by defining an application programming interface (API) to SOM objects based on simple procedure calls - allowing applications written in different programming languages to use a common class library.

Upward binary compatibility of SOM class libraries, as dynamic link libraries (DLL) that can be replaced without recompiling application source code, making it easy for end-users to install new releases of system libraries.

Direct-to-SOM (DTS) compiler support, combined with a DTS compiler, enables development of SOM objects directly from C++ without writing object definitions in IDL. Existing C++ source code, with minor modification, may also be compiled to directly produce SOM objects.

Distributed SOM supports OMG's CORBA standards.

Fulfilling the promise of object-oriented technology
Object-Oriented (OO) technology represents a fundamental change in the concept of software development. With the OO paradigm, the same engineering and manufacturing techniques that enable hardware to grow in performance while declining in price are applied to programming.

OO technology promises to turn software objects-segments of code combining data and procedures--into standard, off-the-shelf parts. A programmer can then incorporate these objects into a system as easily as an engineer incorporates an off-the-shelf semiconductor into a circuit board design. But until now, some key pieces needed to complete a system that works as smoothly and openly as the hardware development process have been missing.

The future is now
Now SOMobjects™ tools fill in some of these missing pieces by breaking objects free from ties to a specific programming language. On a single machine, the System Object Model (SOM) provides an object-structured protocol that allows applications to access and use objects and object definitions regardless of what programming language created them. SOM's language-neutral character not only allows robust software objects to be easily used and reused wherever they're needed, it also enables a greater degree of openness than ever before in the development and use of object-oriented programming (OOP) facilities across multiple operating platforms.

What's more, SOMobjects incorporates Distributed SOM technology, which provides a base for OOP development and use over entire networks. With the IBM SOMobjects Developer Toolkit, your programmers can start taking advantage of SOM immediately. The SOMobjects Workgroup Enabler adds the ability to distribute your SOM-based applications across multiple machines. SOMobjects is available for OS/2®, AIX® and Windows® environments. Complying with the Object Management Group's (OMG®) industry-standard Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA), SOMobjects provides an extensive set of facilities for putting the power of OO technology to work for you.

SOMobjects features
IBM SOMobjects gives professional programmers a comprehensive toolkit for creating OO class libraries, and objects that belong to particular classes, using SOM and Distributed SOM technology. Among the product's powerful functions and benefits are:
 * SOM/IDL Compiler is key to language neutrality and supports the OMG standard Interface Definition Language (IDL). IDL gives individual object implementations the means to tell potential clients what operations are available and how they should be invoked. By mapping the public and private types for a given SOM class to language-specific bindings, the compiler allows SOM objects to be used by different programming languages.
 * SOM/IDL Compiler is key to language neutrality and supports the OMG standard Interface Definition Language (IDL). IDL gives individual object implementations the means to tell potential clients what operations are available and how they should be invoked. By mapping the public and private types for a given SOM class to language-specific bindings, the compiler allows SOM objects to be used by different programming languages.
 * Distributed SOM supports OMG's CORBA standards:
 * Workstation Distributed SOM provides support for transparent cross-address space access to objects in a single-system environment.
 * Workgroup Distributed SOM enables you to define or transparently access objects remotely in a distributed network configuration across supported platforms (OS/2, AIX and Windows).
 * Language bindings for C and C++ allow programmers in those languages to use SOM objects and create new SOM object classes. Other SOM bindings may be available from language vendors; e.g. for Smalltalk®.
 * Replication Framework makes copies of a single object available concurrently to multiple clients, and maintains consistency among the copies, with updates to any one copy automatically reflected in all other copies. It's especially useful for collaborative applications when you need updated information instantly. Fault tolerance is provided to ensure object integrity in the event of a node failure.
 * Persistence Framework allows you to save and restore SOM objects to and from a repository that can be a file system, database or object database.
 * Emitter Framework produces an output file representing part or all of an object interface definition-structured to minimize effort, improve quality and simplify maintenance-making it easy to develop additional language bindings for SOM or documentation for programmers.
 * Collection Classes Framework gives programmers such frequently needed data structures as lists, sets, queues and dictionaries, and lets them inherit from and use these SOM classes in applications with no need to recode or retest the functions.
 * Direct-to-SOM (DTS) compiler support, combined with a DTS compiler, enables development of SOM objects directly from C++ without writing object definitions in IDL. Existing C++ source code can also be compiled to directly produce SOM objects.
 * Online documentation enables problem resolution by providing quick access to product information.

What you get
IBM SOMobjects offers you two packages for the development and execution of SOM-based applications in the OS/2, AIX and Windows environments.


 * IBM SOMobjects Developer Toolkit Version 2.1 for OS/2, AIX and Windows
 * The Developer Toolkit is an object-oriented programming development product which allows programmers to use SOM technology to create object-oriented class libraries. This product includes the SOMobjects Workstation Enabler, which enables the execution of SOM-based applications in a single machine environment. Application developers are given an "extended right to copy" the SOMobjects Workstation Enabler, at no charge, in their applications.
 * IBM SOMobjects Workgroup Enabler Version 2.1 for OS/2, AIX and Windows
 * The Workgroup Enabler enables the execution of SOM-based applications across a multiple-node distributed environment.

Software requirements

 * Platform: OS/2(4)
 * Operating system
 * OS/2 2.1
 * OS/2 2.1.1
 * OS/2 for Windows
 * OS/2 Warp, Version 3
 * Supported compilers
 * Borland® C++ for OS/2, Version 1.5
 * IBM C Set++™ for OS/2, Version 2.1
 * MetaWare High C++, Version 3.2
 * Other compatible C++ compilers
 * Disk space requirements(1)
 * Toolkit: 13MB
 * Workstation Enabler: 3MB
 * Online Documentation: 11MB
 * FrameViewer®: 6MB
 * Samples: 10MB
 * Postscript files: 16MB
 * Memory requirements(1,3)
 * Toolkit: 10MB
 * Workstation Enabler: 12MB


 * Platform: AIX
 * Operating system
 * AIX 3.2.5
 * AIX 4.1.1
 * Supported compilers
 * AIX 3.2.5
 * IBM XL C, Version 1.3
 * IBM XL C++, Version 1.1.2
 * IBM C Set ++, Version 2.1.1
 * IBM C Set ++, Version 2.1.2
 * AIX 4.1.1
 * IBM C, Version 3.1
 * IBM C Set ++, Version 3.1
 * Other compatible C++ compilers
 * Disk space requirements(1)
 * Toolkit: 15MB
 * Workstation Enabler: 4MB
 * Online Documentation: 11MB
 * FrameViewer®: 21MB(2)
 * Samples: 15MB
 * Postscript files: 16MB
 * Memory requirements(1,3)
 * Toolkit: 17MB
 * Workstation Enabler: 18MB


 * Platform: Windows(5)
 * Operating system
 * Windows 3.1
 * Windows 3.11
 * Supported compilers
 * Borland C++ Version 4.02
 * Microsoft® Visual C++ Professional Edition, Version 1.5
 * Symantec™ C++ Professional, Version 6.1
 * Other compatible C++ compilers
 * Disk space requirements(1)
 * Toolkit: 15MB
 * Workstation Enabler: 4MB
 * Online Documentation: 11MB
 * FrameViewer®: 6MB
 * Samples: 10MB
 * Postscript files: 16MB
 * Memory requirements(1,3)
 * Toolkit: 12MB
 * Workstation Enabler: 10MB


 * NOTES:TCP/IP is required to use the Replication and Event Manager Frameworks with the Workstation Enabler. SOMobjects Workgroup Enabler Version 2.1 is required to execute a distributed or replicated (workgroup) SOM-based application on multiple workstations on a LAN.


 * 1) These requirements vary and may not accommodate the particular combination of functions selected. Memory and hard disk requirements for user applications and data are not included.
 * 2) During installation of FrameViewer onto a hard disk drive, an additional 21 MB of hard disk space for temporary work space is required.
 * 3) Memory requirements include operating system requirements.
 * 4) OS/2 for Windows and OS/2 Warp, Version 3 require Microsoft Windows to be installed.
 * 5) Microsoft Windows requires DOS to be installed.

Hardware requirements

 * IBM and non-lBM hardware platforms which support the required level of the operating system (see software requirements)
 * CD-ROM drive
 * Hard disk drive


 * Part number:10H9767
 * Media:CD-ROM; 3.5-inch diskettes available upon request after purchase of CD-ROM version.
 * Warranty:Three months
 * Service:Service is available via IBM TalkLink™, CompuServe® and the Internet Commercial Electronic Network. Defect service is available through May 31,1996.


 * Education:IBM Education and Training offers education on SOMobjects and other object-oriented subjects. Call 1-800-426-8322 (U.S.) or 1-800-661-2131 (Canada)

Additional information

 * Internet:For information on IBM products and services, please see our Internet World Wide Web Home Page. http://www.ibm.com
 * FAX:To receive information on IBM products via fax, call 1-800-lBM-4FAX (1-800-426-4329) (U.S.) or 1-800-465 3299 (Canada) Outside the United States and Canada please call 1-415-855-4329 from a fax telephone.
 * To order:Call 1-800-3IBM-OS2 (1-800-342-6672) (U.S.) or 1-800-565-SW4U (1-800-565-7948) (Canada)

Software requirements

 * Platform: OS/2(3)
 * Operating system
 * OS/2 2.1
 * OS/2 2.1.1
 * OS/2 for Windows
 * OS/2 Warp, Version 3
 * Transport protocol
 * For OS/2 to OS/2 or OS/2 to Windows
 * NetBlOS, Novell® IPX/SPX, TCP/IP
 * For OS/2 to AIX
 * Novell IPX/SPX, TCP/IP
 * Disk space requirements(1): 4MB
 * Memory requirements(1,2): 12MB


 * Platform: AIX
 * Operating system
 * AIX 3.2.5
 * AIX 4.1.1
 * Transport protocol: Novell IPX/SPX, TCP/IP
 * Disk space requirements(1): 4MB
 * Memory requirements(1,2): 18MB


 * Platform: Windows(4)
 * Operating system
 * Windows 3.1
 * Windows 3.11
 * Transport protocol
 * For Windows to Windows
 * NetBlOS, Novell IPX/SPX, TCP/IP
 * For Windows to AIX
 * Novell IPX/SPX, TCP/IP
 * Disk space requirements(1): 4MB
 * Memory requirements(1,2): 10MB

File system - A shared network file system is required to execute the Replication Framework.


 * NOTES:
 * 1) These requirements vary and may not accommodate the particular combination of functions selected. Memory and hard disk requirements for user applications and data are not included.
 * 2) Memory requirements include operating system requirements.
 * 3) OS/2 for Windows and OS/2 Warp, Version 3 require Microsoft Windows to be installed.
 * 4) Microsoft Windows requires DOS to be installed

Hardware requirements
IBM and non-lBM hardware platforms which support the required level of the operating system (see software requirements)
 * CD-ROM drive
 * Hard disk drive


 * Part number:10H9769
 * Media:CD-ROM; 3.5-inch diskettes available upon request after purchase of CD-ROM version.
 * Warranty:Three months
 * Service:Service is available via IBM TalkLink, CompuServe and the Internet Commercial Electronic Network Defect service is available through May 31,1996.


 * Education:IBM Education and Training offers education on SOMobjects and other object-oriented subjects. Call 1-800-426-8322 (U.S.) or 1-800-661-2131 (Canada)

Additional information

 * Internet:For information on IBM products and services, please see our Internet World Wide Web Home Page. http://www.ibm.com


 * FAX:To receive information on IBM products via fax, call 1-800-lBM-4FAX (1-800-426-4329) (U.S.) or 1-800-465 3299 (Canada) Outside the United States and Canada please call 1-415-855-4329 from a fax telephone.


 * To order:Call 1-800-31BM-OS2 (1-800-342-6672) (U.S.) or 1-800-565-SW4U (1-800-565-7948) (Canada)

Copyrights/Trademarks
® IBM, AIX and OS/2 are registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation.

™ C Set ++, TalkLink and SOMobjects are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation.

All other products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

(C) International Business Machines Corporation 1995
 * IBM United States
 * Department 507
 * 1133 Westchester Avenue
 * White Plains, NY 10604

Produced in the United States of America 4-95 All Rights Reserved

References in this publication to IBM products or services do not imply that IBM intends to make them available in all countries in which IBM operates.

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