4.2 Compiling IDL for a CORBA application

The LispWorks ORB product includes an IDL compiler that it uses to check and compile IDL files into Common Lisp fasl files. When the IDL file is processed by the preprocessor, it maps the IDL into Common Lisp. Common Lisp IDL Binding provides a specification for a standard mapping from CORBA IDL to Common Lisp.

According to this specification:

• CORBA types are mapped to Common Lisp types and classes
• CORBA interfaces are mapped to Common Lisp classes
• CORBA interface inheritance is mapped to Common Lisp class inheritance
• CORBA attributes are mapped to Common Lisp getter and setter functions
• CORBA operations are mapped to Common Lisp generic functions
• CORBA exceptions are mapped to Common Lisp conditions

By including the IDL file in the defsystem, the application can access these mappings.