Network Router User Manual

206 GINA V4.0 System Administrator Guide – September 2000
Glossary
general reference
A general reference GREF(P) is a →global reference. The →smart pointer GREF(P)
can refer to a local →persistent object or a stub object. A method call is handled accor-
dingly using either a local or a →remote call.
global interface
The global interface of a class is the subset of the methods of the class which can also
be called →remotely.
global reference
A global reference is used in GINA to address an object, which is (possibly) remote.
There are different types of global references – pure →data references or →smart
pointers in the form of →remote references or →general references. A global reference
can be reduced to a local Persistency Service reference on the target application.
global transaction
In a →distributed transaction, a →transaction monitor groups together a number of
→local transactions to form a global transaction.
When the end of the global transaction is reached, either all the local transactions are
rolled back, or all the local transactions are terminated with a commit. The local trans-
actions do not therefore behave like nested transactions.
inheritance
In object-oriented languages, a derived class inherits the interface of its base classes.
In C++, the implementation of the base classes is also inherited together with the
interface.
instance method
An instance method is a method which is used on a certain instance, i.e. an object, of
a class. These are also called object methods or simply methods.
instantiation
In object-oriented database systems, an object is generally accessed directly using a
reference. In Persistency Service, the persistent object is instantiated when it is first
accessed, i.e. it is loaded into the process address space.
job submitter
see →client