Communications/Messaging system

I have several console applications that use the same shared library. The applications need to send custom messages to one another. Therefore I need to come up with some communications system to allow them to communicate. I will be using this code with multiple OSes but initially on Windows 2K and XP.

I'd like to communicate through a 'transport object’ that other objects can inherit. I can hide OS specific stuff in an abstraction layer and am considering using the Windows messaging system, but it appears that this is geared to GUI apps and the messages I need are all custom messages - not GUI.

So, finally to the point, what communications system have you used and would you recommend for this type of project?

Thanks for any and all suggestions.

KS

I'm sure there are several ways to do this (pipes etc.) but to allow the solution to be easily used across many platforms, I'd use a socket based communication method.

This should work nicely on most platforms, and should allow you to provide the layered support you describe.

Hope this helps,

- Nigel