APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING DECOUPLING OF DATA EXCHANGE DETAILS FOR PROVIDING HIGH PERFORMANCE COMMUNICATION BETWEEN SOFTWARE PROCESSES

A communication interface for decoupling one software application from another software application such communications between applications are facilitated and applications may be developed in modularized fashion. The communication interface is comprised of two libraries of programs. One libray manages self-describing forms which contain actual data to be exchanged as well as type information regarding data format and class definition that contain semantic information. Another library manages communications and includes a subject mapper to receive subscription requests regarding a particular subject and map them to particular communication disciplines and to particular services supplying this information. A number of communication disciplines also cooperate with the subject mapper or directly with client applications to manage communications with various other applications using the communication protocols used by those other applications.