CPI-C: An API for Distributed Applications

Distributed applications have fostered the standardization of application programming interfaces for the underlying communication services. Three popular communication modelsremote procedure calls, messaging and queuing, and conversations-support distributed applications across different networking protocols and physical media. Access to the conversational services of Advanced Programto-Program Communication and Open Systems Interconnection-Distributed Transaction Processing is provided by the Common Programming Interface for Communications (CPI-C), a standard, easy-to-use interface for communication programming. This paper introduces the basic concepts of CPI-C, describes the conversation services available to programs, and presents examples of CPI-C programming.