Middleware is a layer of software situated between the operating system and the applications, permitting them to exchange information among themselves. It constitutes the infrastructure of an information system onto which pieces of software are placed and connected to each other. This book explains the basics of middleware and looks at the importance of middleware in the design of complex information systems, including the close overlap between middleware and the Internet.

The problems to be solved.- Positioning of Middleware.- The Internet and client/server architectures.- Object-oriented Modelling.- Message-Based Middleware.- Principal functions.- Evaluation of the principal products.- RPC-Based Middleware.- The client-server model.- Client-server and procedure call.- Principles of the remote procedure call (RPC) architecture.- The concept of contract between client and server.- Structure of communication.- The Standard.- CORBA: Standard object-based Middleware.- The CORBA conceptual model; architecture; CORBA 2.0 standard.- Object services.- OLE/COM: Object-based middleware from Microsoft.- The COM object model.- OLE 2.- Comparison between CORBA and OLE/COM.- Code reuse: inheritance and aggregation.- Composite document handling: OLE 2 (COM) and OpenDoc (CORBA).- Bridge between CORBA and DCOM.- Internet and Middleware.- Internet architectures.- Putting an application onto the Internet.- JAVA RMI and Java Beans.- The Java Language.- Distributed processing with Java.- Internet: Downloading and execution of applets.- Remote Method Invocation: Java RMI.- Java Beans and ActiveX.- Introduction to object technology.- The concept of an object.- Principal characteristics of object technology.- MethodF(: A Method for object-oriented analysis and design.- Specification phase.- Analysis phase.- Design phase.- Implementation phase.- Conclusion.- Choosing middleware.- The complete approach.