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Flick is an interface definition language (IDL) compiler ("stub generator")
supporting remote procedure call (RPC) and remote method invocation (RMI) for
client/server or distributed object systems. What sets it apart from other IDL
compilers is that it is highly optimizing while also supporting several IDLs,
message formats, and transport mechanisms. Flick currently has front ends for
the CORBA, Sun ONC RPC, and Mach MIG IDLs, and middle and back ends that support
CORBA IIOP, ONC/TCP, MIG-style Mach messages, and Fluke IPC (see below). Flick
produces stubs in the C language. A substantial user's manual is provided.
Flick is designed to be a "kit": the user picks the IDL, language mapping, and
transport components that are required for any particular system. Our goal is
to make it straightforward to add new components to the kit to process new
IDLs, language mappings, and transports. (Collaborators welcome!) Flick's
framework can also be used to support interface annotation. Full source for
the Flick compiler is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public
License; source for the Flick runtime is distributed under a BSD-style license.
Flick-generated marshal and unmarshal code generally runs between 2 and 17
times as fast as code produced by other IDL compilers, commercial and free. On
stock hardware and operating systems, Flick-generated stubs can increase
end-to-end client/server throughput by factors between 1.2 and 3.7 or more.
Our paper describing these results was presented at PLDI'97, the major compiler
conference, in June (see http://www.cs.bu.edu/pub/pldi97/). The paper is
included as part of the Flick distribution, and is separately available at
ftp://mancos.cs.utah.edu/papers/flick-pldi-97-abs.html.
Jay Lepreau, lepreau@cs.utah.edu
University of Utah Computer Science Dept.
WWW: http://www.cs.utah.edu/projects/flux/flick/
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