Abstract: A query for data in a UDDI registry is developed. A URI query having parameters that identify the data is provided. A UDDI query having a UDDI specified format based on the parameters in the URI query is generated. The UDDI query is sent to the UDDI registry.

Abstract: A computer algorithm is encapsulated in at least two modules: at least one communication operation of the computer algorithm is encapsulated in a communication module, separately from the rest of the operations of the algorithm which may be encapsulated in an algorithm module. The separately encapsulated communication operation is made available to the algorithm module during its execution. Modules for data objects encapsulating data communicated may also be provided. A framework may be provided to ensure compatibility between different modules, wherein a plurality of protocols are provided and each module implements a corresponding protocol. All environment-dependent communication operations may be separately encapsulated so that one of the communication module and the algorithm module may be modified without modifying the other.

Abstract: When data, such as tool data, is commonly accessible, there is a danger that concurrent user processes will make overlapping modifications and leave the data in an incomplete or incomprehensible state. The invention provides a locking mechanism to guard against this. The lock objects are maintained in pool or repository. Two types of lock objects are provided; shareable locks that may be shared by many user processes and permit only read access to the locked data, and exclusive locks, useable by only one user process at a time, that permit the owning process to modify the locked data.