ILU for Java: Why use it?
Describes ILU at release ilu2.0-alpha14.
Why use ILU for Java and not one of the other ORBs in Java
- ILU supports corba compatible usage -- unlike Java RMI
limitation: must use ILU specific stubs
- ILU is free and available in source code
and ready to be changed if you need it, even commercially
- ILU supports more programming languages
including Python, C, Lisp, some C++
- ILU supports multiple protocols and transports
including iiop, sunrpc, http, w3ng
- ILU provides distributed garbage collection
and object tables for permanent objects
- ILU has small but active distribution list answering difficult questions
you will find key implementors answering questions
- ILU for Java generated types are RMI compatible
Both ways: ILU stubs are serializable, and, generic serializable objects can be handled by ILU for Java
- ILU for Java has experimental full custom mapping
e.g. this is used to implement the feature above
- ILU has a multi year track record
Why maybe not use ILU for Java
- Native Java methods; no general applet support
- No support for DII, DSI
- Ilu stubs and corba standard stubs are compatible only in api, but are not interchangeable.
- Installation process more difficult then other Java-only or binary-only orbs
- No commercial customer support
Installation process
- First a word of caution: ILU is large. ILU installation is highly
parametrized.
-
The installation process is not unusual for unix programs, but may be
daunting
for people used to Java only.
Consider doing a full all-languages installation of ILU nevertheless.
- There are binary only pre-installed versions of ILU for Java. However these
are limitted by our choice of installation option as well as running only on
a small number of architectures.
- ILU for Java has been installed with 12 (twelve!) different Java VM's. Not all of them are still relevant; adding number 13 is probably much easier but might still require work.
ILU
ILU for Java
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