Glossary: Orocos Glossary
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- command
- A request which is handled by a component. This request is handled and executed in the thread of the receiving component and the command status can be tracked by the sender. Commands are 'asynchronous' messages. The sender does not need to wait until the receiver finishes it.
- component interface
- In Orocos, all components have a universal interface which can be 'browsed' for its contents. It may contain commands, methods, properties, events and data ports.
- control flow
- See execution flow.
- data flow
- The order in which data (setpoints, sensor readings,...) is calculated or processed in a computer program. In Orocos, The data flow arrives at a component at a data port, is processed by one of the component's algorithms and leaves the component again at a data port. When the component's data ports are connected, the data can flow from one component to another.
- execution flow
- The order in which functions are executed in a computer program. It is often a series of action-reaction. In Orocos one can control the execution flow by configuring when the 'execution engine' of a component is run, to which events it reacts, which commands it accepts and which functions (methods) it can execute. It is orthogonal to the 'data flow'.
- method
- A function which can be called. In Orocos, methods are a part of the component interface which other components can invoke directly. Methods take arguments and return a result.
- middleware
- Middleware is computer software that connects software components or applications. It is used most often to support complex, distributed applications. [source: www.wikipedia.org ] In Orocos, the middleware is provided by the Real-Time Toolkit, which allows (among other things) that components can communicate over a network. It does this using the Corba middleware software in turn.
- port
- A port is used by a component to share, send or receive data with other components. In Orocos, 'data ports' are unbuffered and used to shared data. 'buffer ports' are buffered and used as FIFO's between components.
- property
- A named, persistent parameter of a software component. In Orocos, properties have a name, a value and a description. The value can be of any type: a string, a double, or even another property. Hence properties can be hierarchically structured. The standard format to store properties is XML. A component can read and write properties to an XML file at any time.
- taskcontext
- The base class (in C++) of each component in Orocos. It allows a component to be connected to other components and is used to describe the interface of a component.