CORBA 2.6.1 Glossary

The principal building block of object-oriented programs. An object is an instance of an
implementation and an interface. Each object is a programming unit consisting of data and
methods or functions. See also CORBA object.
object adapter
A CORBA component, residing in a server, which provides an interface between the Object
Request Broker and the objects running in a server. CORBA defines a Portable Object Adapter
(POA).
Object by Value
Object by Value (OBV) is a way of passing objects and parameters by value rather than by
reference. The receiving side of an object passed by value receives a description of the "state" of
the object. It then instantiates a new object with that state but having a separate identity from that
of the sending side.
object class
A collection of data and the operations that can be performed on the data.
object ID
A value used to identify a CORBA object. The value is unique only within a POA scope. An
object ID is not guaranteed to be unique with respect to a server because there could be more than
one POA object at any time on a given server. An object ID is opaque and is not visible to the
client.
object identity service
A service that distinguishes among instances of the same object class, even in cases where the data
values are identical.
object lifecycle
The stages in the existence of an object, such as its creation, its location through use of the Naming
Service, and its release.
Object Management Group (OMG)
The vendor consortium responsible for defining the Common Object Request Broker Architecture
(CORBA) and other standards.
object-oriented
A software design method that models the characteristics of abstract or real objects using classes
and objects.
object reference
A value that precisely identifies an object. Object references are never reused to identify another
object.
Object Request Broker (ORB)
A component that transmits messages between clients and servers in a distributed object