Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!usc!ginosko!uunet!portal!cup.portal.com!Will
From: Will@cup.portal.com (Will E Estes)
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: How Do Interface Description Languages Work?
Message-ID: <22096@cup.portal.com>
Date: 12 Sep 89 23:48:37 GMT
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Lines: 22

Can someone explain at a high level what an interface description
language (IDL) is?  My understanding is that IDL is a pre-processor
to an existing language such as C that implements a high-level
language that is well-suited to dealing with complicated data structures
like those found in compilers.  Now, with that said, can someone
answer the following:

1) what is it about the IDL language that makes it better suited to
dealing with C data structures than C itself?

2) can someone quantify what kind of performance benefits can be
expected using IDL over using just C?

I have had several sources suggest some good books on this topic, and
I may get around to buying and reading these someday ( :).  So far 
I haven't been able to find anyone who understands enough about IDL
to be able to answer the two specific questions I ask above without 
resorting to saying that I "should read the book."    Can someone
here who has experience with IDL give me concise answers to my questions?
 
Thanks,
Will