What is javax.naming.Context used for?

[cpjust]

Hi,
I've been reading the documentation for javax.naming.Context and I'm totally lost.

What is a "Context" in this particular, umm, context?

The docs say stuff like:

This interface represents a naming context, which consists of a set of name-to-object bindings.

and

Each name passed as an argument to a Context method is relative to that context.

It's almost like they picked the most confusing name possible for this class.
Can someone explain what it is and does in terms that even a C++ developer can understand?

 

[Diancecht]

I like thinking on Naming as a yellow pages service for remote objects. Maybe this article helps to clarify.

I'm not an expert on this, but maybe the closer thing in C++ is the .NET remoting config file.

Cheers,
Dian