<s>
Babel	O
is	O
an	O
open	B-Application
source	I-Application
middleware	B-General_Concept
system	O
serving	O
the	O
scientific	O
computing	O
community	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
a	O
language	B-Language
interoperability	I-Language
tool	O
,	O
Babel	O
enables	O
the	O
arbitrary	O
mixing	O
of	O
software	B-Library
libraries	I-Library
written	O
in	O
C/C	O
++	O
,	O
Fortran	B-Application
,	O
Python	B-Language
,	O
and	O
Java	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
a	O
distributed	B-Architecture
computing	I-Architecture
platform	O
,	O
Babel	O
provides	O
a	O
language-neutral	O
Remote	O
Method	O
Invocation	O
(	O
RMI	O
)	O
scheme	O
similar	O
to	O
Java	B-Language
's	I-Language
RMI	I-Language
which	O
allows	O
third-party	O
plug-ins	O
to	O
specify	O
custom	O
data	O
encodings	O
and	O
network	O
protocols	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Babel	O
requires	O
developers	O
to	O
use	O
an	O
interface	B-General_Concept
description	I-General_Concept
language	I-General_Concept
to	O
specify	O
the	O
platform	O
and	O
language	O
neutral	O
interface	O
to	O
code	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Babel	O
uses	O
a	O
custom	O
dialect	O
called	O
SIDL	O
(	O
Scientific	O
Interface	B-General_Concept
Definition	I-General_Concept
Language	I-General_Concept
)	O
,	O
which	O
has	O
adaptations	O
specific	O
to	O
computational	O
science	O
and	O
engineering	O
applications	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Babel	O
works	O
on	O
all	O
known	O
POSIX	O
and	O
Unix	B-Operating_System
variants	I-Operating_System
,	O
including	O
Linux	B-Application
,	O
Mac	B-Operating_System
OS	I-Operating_System
X	I-Operating_System
,	O
AIX	B-Application
,	O
IRIX	B-Operating_System
,	O
Solaris	B-Application
,	O
Tru64	B-Operating_System
,	O
Cray	O
's	O
XT4	B-Device
,	O
IBM	O
's	O
Blue	B-Operating_System
Gene	I-Operating_System
,	O
and	O
many	O
commodity	O
clusters	B-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
Babel	O
does	O
not	O
require	O
special	O
compiler	O
or	O
linker	O
technology	O
and	O
works	O
with	O
GNU	B-Operating_System
,	O
Intel	O
,	O
IBM	O
,	O
PathScale	O
,	O
PGI	O
,	O
and	O
many	O
other	O
compilers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Babel	O
development	O
and	O
maintenance	O
is	O
currently	O
funded	O
by	O
United	O
States	O
Department	O
of	O
Energy	O
,	O
but	O
relies	O
heavily	O
on	O
an	O
open	B-Application
source	I-Application
community	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Babel	O
development	O
team	O
maintain	O
open	B-Application
software	I-Application
repositories	O
,	O
,	O
and	O
.	O
</s>
