<s>
Inter-Language	B-Application
Unification	I-Application
or	O
ILU	O
is	O
a	O
method	O
for	O
computer	O
systems	O
to	O
exchange	O
data	O
,	O
bridging	O
differences	O
in	O
the	O
way	O
systems	O
represent	O
the	O
various	O
kinds	O
of	O
data	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Even	O
if	O
two	O
systems	O
run	O
on	O
the	O
same	O
computer	O
,	O
or	O
on	O
identical	O
computer	O
hardware	O
,	O
many	O
differences	O
arise	O
from	O
the	O
use	O
of	O
different	O
computer	B-Language
languages	I-Language
to	O
build	O
the	O
systems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
object	O
interfaces	B-Application
provided	O
by	O
ILU	O
hide	O
implementation	O
distinctions	O
between	O
different	O
languages	B-Language
,	O
between	O
different	O
address	B-General_Concept
spaces	I-General_Concept
,	O
and	O
between	O
operating	B-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
types	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
ILU	O
can	O
be	O
used	O
to	O
build	O
multi-lingual	O
object-oriented	B-Language
libraries	B-Library
(	O
"	O
class	O
libraries	B-Library
"	O
)	O
with	O
well-specified	O
language-independent	O
interfaces	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
can	O
also	O
be	O
used	O
to	O
implement	O
distributed	B-Architecture
systems	I-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
can	O
also	O
be	O
used	O
to	O
define	O
and	O
document	O
interfaces	B-Application
between	O
the	O
modules	B-Architecture
of	O
non-distributed	O
programs	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
ILU	O
interfaces	B-Application
can	O
be	O
specified	O
in	O
either	O
the	O
Object	B-Architecture
Management	I-Architecture
Group	I-Architecture
's	I-Architecture
CORBA	B-Architecture
Interface	B-General_Concept
Definition	I-General_Concept
Language	I-General_Concept
(	O
OMG	B-Architecture
IDL	I-Architecture
)	O
,	O
or	O
ILU	O
's	O
Interface	O
Specification	B-Application
Language	I-Application
(	O
ISL	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
ILU	O
was	O
developed	O
as	O
an	O
Open	B-License
Source	I-License
project	O
at	O
the	O
Xerox	O
Palo	O
Alto	O
Research	O
Center	O
(	O
Xerox	O
PARC	O
)	O
from	O
1991	O
until	O
2000	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
From	O
1997	O
to	O
2000	O
,	O
ILU	O
was	O
used	O
as	O
the	O
foundation	O
for	O
experimental	O
work	O
on	O
a	O
"	O
next	O
generation	O
"	O
HTTP	B-Protocol
protocol	I-Protocol
by	O
the	O
World	O
Wide	O
Web	O
Consortium	O
's	O
HTTP-NG	O
activity	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
a	O
result	O
of	O
this	O
work	O
,	O
a	O
particularly	O
efficient	O
experimental	O
RPC	B-Operating_System
protocol	O
called	O
""	O
was	O
developed	O
,	O
along	O
with	O
a	O
way	O
of	O
efficiently	O
multiplexing	O
a	O
single	O
TCP	B-Protocol
connection	O
into	O
multiple	O
channels	O
in	O
both	O
directions	O
,	O
called	O
""	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
last	O
release	O
supported	O
the	O
programming	O
languages	B-Language
C++	B-Language
(	O
Corba2	O
mapping	O
)	O
,	O
ANSI	O
C	O
,	O
Python	B-Language
,	O
Java	B-Language
,	O
and	O
Common	B-Language
Lisp	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Contributed	O
support	O
was	O
also	O
available	O
for	O
Modula-3	B-Language
,	O
Guile	B-Application
Scheme	I-Application
,	O
and	O
Perl	O
5	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
ILU	O
has	O
been	O
installed	O
on	O
most	O
flavors	O
of	O
UNIX	O
(	O
SunOS	B-Operating_System
,	O
Solaris	B-Application
,	O
HP-UX	B-Application
,	O
AIX	B-Application
,	O
OSF	B-Application
,	O
IRIX	B-Operating_System
,	O
FreeBSD	B-Operating_System
,	O
Linux	B-Application
,	O
LynxOS	B-Operating_System
,	O
SCO	B-Operating_System
Unix	I-Operating_System
,	O
etc	O
.	O
)	O
</s>
<s>
and	O
MS-Windows	B-Application
(	O
3.1	O
,	O
95	O
,	O
NT	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
supported	O
both	O
threaded	O
(	O
POSIX	O
,	O
Solaris	B-Application
,	O
NT	O
,	O
Franz	O
ACL	O
,	O
PPCR	O
,	O
Modula-3	B-Language
)	O
and	O
event-loop	O
(	O
Xt	B-Language
,	O
Tk	B-Application
,	O
XView	B-Library
)	O
operation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
a	O
result	O
,	O
ILU	O
provided	O
support	O
for	O
use	O
of	O
the	O
OMG	O
CORBA	B-Architecture
IDL	I-Architecture
interface	B-General_Concept
description	I-General_Concept
language	I-General_Concept
,	O
and	O
can	O
be	O
thought	O
of	O
as	O
a	O
CORBA	B-Architecture
ORB	O
system	O
(	O
though	O
with	O
omissions	O
from	O
and	O
extensions	O
to	O
the	O
CORBA	B-Architecture
spec	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
ILU	O
also	O
included	O
a	O
self-contained	O
implementation	O
of	O
ONC	B-Protocol
RPC	I-Protocol
,	O
and	O
it	O
was	O
possible	O
to	O
describe	O
and	O
use	O
existing	O
RPC	B-Operating_System
services	O
as	O
ILU	O
objects	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
ILU	O
also	O
included	O
a	O
self-contained	O
implementation	O
of	O
the	O
World	O
Wide	O
Web	O
's	O
Hypertext	B-Protocol
Transfer	I-Protocol
Protocol	I-Protocol
(	O
HTTP	B-Protocol
)	O
,	O
and	O
could	O
thus	O
be	O
used	O
to	O
implement	O
object-oriented	B-Language
web	B-Application
browsers	I-Application
and	O
servers	O
.	O
</s>
