REQUEST FOR DISCUSSION (RFD)
unmoderated group comp.object.corba.tao
This is a formal Request For Discussion (RFD) to create
comp.object.corba.tao as an unmoderated world-wide Usenet newsgroup
dedicated to the discussion of The ACE ORB (TAO). This is not a Call
for Votes (CFV); you cannot vote at this time. Procedural details
appear below. All followup discussion should be crossposted to
news.groups.
Newsgroup line:
comp.object.corba.tao CORBA programming using The ACE ORB (TAO).
RATIONALE: comp.object.corba.tao
TAO (pronounced "dau") is a high performance Object Request Broker
(ORB) based upon the OMG (Object Management Group) CORBA (Common
Object Request Broker Architecture) standard. An Object Request
Broker is a middleware layer that allows clients to invoke methods on
distributed objects without concern for object location, programming
language, operating system platform, networking protocols, or
hardware. ORB technology abstracts away low-level details of
networking and systems programming, which helps application
developers to create more powerful and robust distributed
applications.
TAO is targeted at developers of a wide spectrum of systems, ranging
from high-performance, distributed real-time and embedded systems to
desktop and enterprise business systems. TAO has thousands of users
in academia and in industry, in such diverse domains as avionics,
telecommunications, medical imaging, and financial services.
TAO supports the C++ language mappings of the OMG CORBA standard.
You can get further information on TAO from the TAO home page
( http://www.cse.wustl.edu/~schmidt/TAO.html ) at Washington
University as well as Object Computing, Inc. (OCI)'s web site
( http://www.theaceorb.com ).
Currently, most of the discussion regarding TAO happens on the
ta*******@cse.wustl.edu mailing list which has approximately 550
subscribers. The mailing list receives approximately 20 to 30 e-mail
messages per day.
Much discussion of TAO also happens on comp.soft-sys.ace, a newsgroup
dedicated to general discussion regarding the Adaptive Communication
Environment (ACE). ACE is a C++ class library that implements many
useful patterns for the design of concurrent communication software.
ACE was originally developed at Washington University in St. Louis,
Missouri, U.S.A. TAO is written in C++ using the ACE class library.
E-mail from the ta*******@cse.wustl.edu mailing list is also gatewayed
to comp.soft-sys.ace. comp.soft-sys.ace receives approximately 200-300
postings per month. Approximately 30-40 % of these postings are
related to TAO, the rest are related to ACE.
The postings on comp.soft-sys.ace regarding TAO are becoming
distinctly different from the postings regarding ACE.
Postings related to ACE are for the most part related to using
the ACE C++ class library for writing more portable and
robust networking code.
The postings related to TAO are focusing more on using
TAO as a CORBA middleware platform for designing better
distributed systems with high performance and real-time
characteristics.
Since the target audience for ACE is not necessarily interested
in the discussion involving TAO, this warrants a separate
newsgroup forum specifically devoted to TAO.
Due to the high level of e-mail traffic on the ta*******@cse.wustl.edu
e-mail list, many current and potential users of TAO would be better
served by a newsgroup format discussion.
CHARTER: comp.object.corba.tao
The comp.object.corba.tao newsgroup is formed for the discussion of the
following topic areas:
- TAO announcements (new kits, etc.)
- Questions about C++ CORBA programming using TAO
- Questions about how to use the CORBA services in TAO
- Source code problems, fixes, and modifications
- Possible extensions and additions to TAO
- Higher level frameworks built on top of TAO such as
the CORBA Component Model
Posts which deal with particular platform or compiler issues that are
unrelated to one of the above topics are better made in a newsgroup
dealing specifically with the platform or compiler.
Posting of binary files is prohibited, with the exception of PGP signatures
and similar small binaries.
Infrequent posting of TAO-relevant commercial information is allowed.
The same posting may not be posted more often than monthly.
Posting of commercial information that is not strongly related to
TAO is prohibited.
END CHARTER.
PROCEDURE:
This is a request for discussion, not a call for votes. In this phase
of the process, any potential problems with the proposed newsgroups
should be raised and resolved. The discussion period will continue for
a minimum of 21 days (starting from when the first RFD for this
proposal is posted to news.announce.newgroups), after which a Call For
Votes (CFV) may be posted by a neutral vote taker if the discussion
warrants it. Please do not attempt to vote until this happens.
All discussion of this proposal should be posted to news.groups.
This RFD attempts to comply fully with the Usenet newsgroup creation
guidelines outlined in "How to Create a New Usenet Newsgroup" and "How
to Format and Submit a New Group Proposal". Please refer to these
documents (available in news.announce.newgroups) if you have any
questions about the process.
This RFD may be distributed freely to other relevant newsgroups or
maillists, provided the followup line (to news.groups) is unaltered.
Note that discussion regarding this RFD should be conducted only in
news.groups.
DISTRIBUTION:
This RFD has been posted to the following newsgroups:
news.announce.newgroups
news.groups
comp.lang.c++
comp.object.corba
comp.soft-sys.ace
and the following mailing lists:
ac*******@cs.wustl.edu (Discussion of ACE issues, porting, programs)
Subscribe via ac***************@cs.wustl.edu
ac**********@cs.wustl.edu (ACE announcements)
Subscribe via ac******************@cs.wustl.edu
ta*******@cs.wustl.edu (Discussion of TAO issues, porting, help)
Subscribe via ta***************@cs.wustl.edu
ta**********@cs.wustl.edu (TAO announcements)
Subscribe via ta***************@cs.wustl.edu
Proponent: Craig Rodrigues <ro*****@crodrigues.org>
