CORBA defines a standard architecture for object request brokers (ORB). An ORB is a software component that mediates the transfer of messages from a program to an object located on a remote network host. The ORB hides the underlying complexity of network communications from the programmer.
An ORB lets you create standard software objects whose member functions can be invoked by client programs located anywhere in your network. A program that contains instances of CORBA objects is often known as a server. However, the same program can serve at different times as a client and a server. For example, a server program might itself invoke calls on other server programs, and so relate to them as a client.
When a client invokes a member function on a CORBA object, the ORB intercepts the function call. As shown in Figure 2, the ORB redirects the function call across the network to the target object. The ORB then collects results from the function call and returns these to the client.
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