Soft type binding for distributed systems

A client agent in a first computer system, comprising:

• a data request module configured to receive a request for a resource, the request having an associated first data type, the resource being instantiated at a second computer system according to a second data type that is different from the first data type;
• and
• a materialization module that receives the resource from a server agent at the second computer in response to the request being transmitted from the first computer system, and that is configured to materialize the received resource into an instance of the first data type.

A computer program product comprising a computer-readable medium having computer program logic recorded thereon for enabling a processor to perform a data communication, comprising:

• first computer program logic means for enabling the processor to associate a first data type with a request for a resource to be transmitted to a second agent at a second computer system, the resource being instantiated at the second computer system according to a second data type that is different from the first data type;
• and
• second computer program logic means for enabling the processor to materialize the resource received from the second agent in response to the request into an instance of the first data type.