Difference Between Corba and RMI

Corba vs RMI

There is no doubt about the popularity of Java among developers. With Java, possibilities have expanded even further. Java’s extremely portable nature is of great advantage. It integrates well with web browsers, making it ideal for Web development ventures. As far as developers are concerned, it is easy to use and implement. This is the main reason many developers embrace the technology.

RMI and CORBA are two of the most significant and commonly utilized distribution systems in Java. Both are very effective but with their own pros and cons. The applications using these systems are enormously expansive and almost limitless. As a developer for a particular project, choosing between the two can be a difficult decision to make.

Common Object Request Broker Architecture or simply CORBA has many adapters. It can also call many languages with a CORBA interface as it is developed to be independent of whatever language a program it is written in. It is in direct competition to RMI but CORBA offers better portability.

CORBA can easily integrate with older systems and newer ones that support CORBA. However, for developers of JAVA, the technology provides less flexibility as it does not allow executables to be forwarded to remote systems.

CORBA is an extensive family of standards and interfaces. Exploring the details of these interfaces is quite a daunting task.

RMI is an abbreviation of Remote Method Invocation. This technology was released with Java 1.1, actually available since JDK 1.02, and it lets Java developers invoke object methods and allows them to be executed on remote JVMs or Java Virtual Machines. Its implementation is rather easy particularly if you know Java very well. It’s just like calling a process locally; however, its calls are limited to Java only.

Having mentioned about RMI’s Java-centric characteristic, the only way to integrate codes in other languages into the RMI distribution system is to use an interface. This interface is called the Java native-code interface. However, it can be extremely complex and, more often than not, results to fragile codes.

RMI has major features that CORBA doesn’t have, most notably, the ability to send new objects ,code and data across a network, and for remote virtual machines to faultlessly handle new objects

When comparing RMI and CORBA, it is like making a comparison between an apple and an orange. Principally, one is not better than the other. It entirely depends on the application or project involved and the preference of the developer.

Summary:

1. RMI is Java-centric while CORBA is not tied to a single language.

2. RMI is easier to master particularly for Java programmers and developers.

3. CORBA offers greater portability due to its high adaptability to various programming languages.

4. CORBA can’t send new objects across networks.

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