[BioPython] idl/corba implementation ?'s

[Ewan Birney]

On Wed, 16 Feb 2000, Brad Chapman wrote:

> 
> Hello all!
> 	I was just doing some thinking about IDL implementations, and had 
> some 
> implementation questions. I apologize if any of the following is 
> ignorant/uninformed; I'm still muddling my way into CORBA. 

I was thinking about the same problem Brad, and I was wondering if
the following IDL / extension might be interesting:

   // needs exceptions
   interface BioEnv {
	Seq  get_Seq_file(in string filename);
        PrimarySeq get_PrimarySeq_file(in string filename);
        PrimarySeqIterator get_PrimarySeqIterator_file(in string filename);
  // using jeff's database names
	PrimarySeqDB get_PrimarySeqDB(in string name);
        SeqDB        get_SeqDB(in string name);
    };


The IOR for this BioEnv object we could define as being in the file
pointed by environment variable

BIOCORBA_BIOENV_IOR_FILE


This way when a bioperl/biojava/biopython script starts up it can just
say "get me the environment" and from then onwards not know/care where
this was actually being executed...


I think this is sorta cool ;)


Yes - I think possibly we can use some sort of naming service here.
But I don't see how a naming service necessarily makes our life easier.