Distributed System Interface Definition Languages

An interface definition language (IDL) provide a language-neutral and platform-independent way to specify the interfaces of objects or services.

It defines the data types, operations, and interfaces that are available for use by other components.

Do not confuse it with an application programming interface (API), that is an interface that is sometimes defined as just one of the elements within an interface definition language (IDL). You can read a post about application programming interface (API).

List of DCE Frameworks

List of Distributed Computing Environment (DCE) frameworks:

Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA)
Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM)
Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
- gRPC
- Apache Thrift
Web Services Description Language (WSDL)

CORBA is the oldest one. It is based on tight connections, unlike the most modern approaches that uses loose connections. It is defined by the Object Management Group (OMG).

DCOM is a Windows-only cross-language object model that works in networks. It is developed by Microsoft.

List

List of Distributed Computing Environment (DCE) Interface Definition Language (IDL) or frameworks:

Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA IDL)
Distributed Component Object Model (MICL)
Web Services Description Language (WSDL)
gRPC
protobuff
Apache Thrift

CORBA IDL

Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) IDL

MICL

Microsoft Interface Definition Language (MICL) is used by the Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM).

WSDL

WSDL is used by SOAP.

gRPC

gRPC is popular in microservices, as it is linked to Kubernetes.

Protocol Buffers (protobuff)

Protocol Buffers (protobuff) is used by gRPC.

Apache Thrift

Apache Thrift is an IDL originally developed by Facebook (nowadays Meta).