Communicating abstract data type values in heterogeneous distributed programs

This paper is concerned with the problem of communicating abstract data type (ADT) values in heterogeneous distributed programs. It focuses on addressing two fundamental issues of the problem: the selection of suitable exchange representations and the generation of data converters. Exchange representations are the ways to represent data during transmissions across networks. Data converters are programs transforming data from one representation to another; they are the major facility to deal with heterogeneity in a communication. This paper reports the following results: a term-based exchange representation, which is an abstract notation and so is particularly suitable for communicating ADT values in heterogeneous programs; and methods to generate data converters