Universal Interface Language
Encyclopedia
A Universal Interface Language is a language that allows for an interchange of deep information between objects
. It does this by allowing an object to experiment on another object to determine what it thinks the object is capable of.
The concept was introduced by Alan Kay
as early as 1997 in his keynote speech at OOPSLA
.
The goal of a Universal Interface Language is to achieve (automatic) interoperability beyond that provided by an Interface description language
such as CORBA
or a message exchange protocol such as SOAP.
There are currently no known implementations of a Universal Interface Language. Based on Kay
's description, we would expect each object involved in the conversation to have a URL
or IP address
.
Object (computer science)
In computer science, an object is any entity that can be manipulated by the commands of a programming language, such as a value, variable, function, or data structure...
. It does this by allowing an object to experiment on another object to determine what it thinks the object is capable of.
The concept was introduced by Alan Kay
Alan Kay
Alan Curtis Kay is an American computer scientist, known for his early pioneering work on object-oriented programming and windowing graphical user interface design, and for coining the phrase, "The best way to predict the future is to invent it."He is the president of the Viewpoints Research...
as early as 1997 in his keynote speech at OOPSLA
OOPSLA
OOPSLA is an annual ACM research conference. OOPSLA mainly takes place in the United States, while the sister conference of OOPSLA, ECOOP, is typically held in Europe...
.
The goal of a Universal Interface Language is to achieve (automatic) interoperability beyond that provided by an Interface description language
Interface description language
An interface description language , or IDL for short, is a specification language used to describe a software component's interface...
such as CORBA
Çorba
Chorba , ciorbă , shurpa , shorpo , or sorpa is one of various kinds of soup or stew found in national cuisines across Middle East...
or a message exchange protocol such as SOAP.
There are currently no known implementations of a Universal Interface Language. Based on Kay
Alan Kay
Alan Curtis Kay is an American computer scientist, known for his early pioneering work on object-oriented programming and windowing graphical user interface design, and for coining the phrase, "The best way to predict the future is to invent it."He is the president of the Viewpoints Research...
's description, we would expect each object involved in the conversation to have a URL
Uniform Resource Locator
In computing, a uniform resource locator or universal resource locator is a specific character string that constitutes a reference to an Internet resource....
or IP address
IP address
An Internet Protocol address is a numerical label assigned to each device participating in a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication. An IP address serves two principal functions: host or network interface identification and location addressing...
.