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2.1.4 Object References


   An Object Reference is the information needed to specify an object within an ORB. Both clients and object implementations have an opaque notion of object references according to the language mapping, and thus are insulated from the actual representation of them. Two ORB implementations may differ in their choice of Object Reference representations.

   The representation of an object reference handed to a client is only valid for the lifetime of that client.

   All ORBs must provide the same language mapping to an object reference (usually referred to as an Object) for a particular programming language. This permits a program written in a particular language to access object references independent of the particular ORB. The language mapping may also provide additional ways to access object references in a typed way for the convenience of the programmer.

   There is a distinguished object reference, guaranteed to be different from all object references, that denotes no object.