1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of data processing. More specifically, the present invention relates to the employment of multiple programming languages interleaved within a single source file for data processing operations.
2. Background Information
Ever since the invention of the first computer, computer scientists have continuously tried to improve the productivity of programmers, such that more applications can be developed using fewer resources to take advantage of the continuous advancements being made in the art of computer and related technologies. First assembler languages were developed to replace machine languages. Then, high level languages, such as FORTRAN, COBOL, PL/I and so forth, were developed to further improve the productivity of programmers. Development of high level languages were followed by structured languages such as Pascal and C, and then object oriented programming languages such as C++. To facilitate development of the Internet and the World Wide Web, “new” languages such as the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), Java™, Javascript, Perl and CGI were developed.
Each programming language has its strength and weakness, and is often suitable for certain applications over other applications. It is often desirable to be able to employ instructions or statements of different programming languages to solve a problem or implement an application. However, few programming languages offer such support. To the extent that mixed language execution is supported, the approach is often proprietary and not extendable to other programming languages. Thus, an improved mixed multi-language method, especially, one that is extensible to multiple programming languages is desired.
A data processing representation is expressed in the form of code sections, which may be nested, using multiple programming languages. The representation is read by an execution engine. The execution engine identifies the programming language of each code section, and a corresponding language specific processing unit is invoked to process the code section. The language specific processing unit reads that section of the representation, identifying sub-sections specified in its associated language and other sub-sections specified in unknown languages. It executes the sub-sections specified in its associated language with the intended semantics and in the appropriate order. When a sub-section specified in an unknown language is encountered, it delegates processing of that sub-section back to the execution engine, which repeats this process for the unknown sub-section. The execution engine coordinates execution of the unknown sub-section, using one or more appropriate language specific processing units, and returns the result back to the requesting language specific processor, which will continue processing where it left off.
In one embodiment, a header section comprising directive and/or declarative statement is also supported for one or more of the languages. Upon recognition, the corresponding language specific processing unit imports data packages enumerated by the directive statement, as directed, or instantiate methods/variables enumerated by the declarative statement, for code sections of the language, as declared.
In one embodiment, the mixed usage of at least three programming languages is supported. The first language is an XML-like declarative language, the second language is the Java™ language and the third language is XML.
The present invention will be described by way of exemplary embodiments, but not limitations, illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which like references denote similar elements, and in which:
a illustrates the relevant operational flow of the execution engine of
b illustrates the relevant operational flow of a language specific processing unit of
c illustrates the relevant operational flow of a language specific processing unit of
The present invention includes a method for specifying data processing operations using programming instructions of multiple programming languages, and for executing the multi-language data processing representation.
In the following description, various aspects of the present invention will be described. However, the present invention may be practiced with only some or all aspects of the present invention. For purposes of explanation, specific numbers, materials and configurations are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, the present invention may be practiced without the specific details. In other instances, well known features are omitted or simplified in order not to obscure the present invention.
Parts of the description will be presented in data processing terms, such as data, variables, methods, import, retrieve, return, and so forth, consistent with the manner commonly employed by those skilled in the art to convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. As well understood by those skilled in the art, these quantities take the form of electrical, magnetic, or optical signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, and otherwise manipulated through mechanical, electrical and/or optical components of a computer system. The term computer system includes general purpose as well as special purpose data processing machines, systems, and the like, that are standalone, adjunct or embedded.
Various operations will be described as multiple discrete steps in turn, in a manner that is most helpful in understanding the present invention, however, the order of description should not be construed as to imply that these operations are necessarily order dependent. In particular, these operations need not be performed in the order of presentation.
The phrase “in one embodiment” is used repeatedly. The phrase generally does not refer to the same embodiment, however, it may.
Referring now to
As illustrated, in accordance with the embodiment, a multi-language data processing representation 106 includes one or more language namespace declarations 108 declaring language or languages employed, and one or more code sections 110 of the declared languages. In other embodiments, other non-namespace means may also be employed to declare the languages involved. As will be described in more detail below, each code section 110 may include sub-sections written in one or more other languages, that is code sections 110 of the different programming languages may be interleaved. Each sub-section may in turn have sub-sub-sections written in other languages, and so forth.
For the embodiment, data processing representation 106 may also include one or more language specific header sections 109 specifying various “preliminary” matters for subsequent code sections 110 of the language.
Execution engine 104 is endowed with logic to anticipate that data processing representations 106 may include code sections of different programming languages, and with the assistance of language specific processing units 105 be able to handle and facilitate execution of these code sections of different programming languages. Moreover, execution engine 104 is endowed with logic to anticipate and handle inter-mixing of code sections of the different programming languages. For the embodiment, upon encountering a code section/statement of a language, execution engine 104 invokes the corresponding language specific processing unit 105 to augment and provide the language specific processing required to process and facilitate execution of the code section/statement.
Language specific processing units 105 are endowed with logic to identify sub-sections written in unknown programming languages, and delegate the processing of those sub-sections back to the execution engine 104. The execution engine 104, in turn, will pass the sub-section to an appropriate language specific processor and return the result to the requesting language specific processing unit 105.
In general, except for the teachings of the present invention incorporated in execution engine 104 and language specific processing units 105, and the exploitation of these abilities by data processing representations 106, data processing representations 106 are intended to represent a broad range of data processing representation methodologies known in the art, and execution engine 104 is intended to represent a broad range of the corresponding engines in support of these methodologies. Further, computing environment 102 may be disposed in a single or multi-processor system, or a collection of networked systems. In the case of networked systems, the systems may be networked locally, or across a number of private and/or public networks, including the Internet.
Referring now to
<xs:xsheet xmlns:xs=“Error! Hyperlink reference not
valid.xl://crossgain.net/lang/xsheet/”
where “xmlns” declares an XML namespace,
Cell based data processing is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/741,219, entitled “Cell Based Data Processing”, filed on Dec. 19, 2000, which is a non-provisional application of the earlier enumerated U.S. provisional patent application 60/246,915. Readers are referred to the '219 application for further details.
For ease of understanding, the remaining description of the present invention will be presented primarily in the context of the aforementioned “cell based” methodology/language and the extension of the Java™ language, the present invention is not so limited. The present invention may be practiced with any two or more currently known or to be developed languages, as long as each of the languages is amenable to the declaration and reference techniques described in further details below.
Continuing to refer to
In one embodiment, a header section 109 may be declared in accordance with the following exemplary syntax:
<xs:header>
</xs:header>
The above example directive directs the import of W3C's definition of the document object model for use by subsequent Java™ code sections.
Still referring to
For example, from within Java™, retrieval and return of a XML value associated with an xsheet variable as an object may be specified as follows:
myvar=<xs:valueof select=“$countdown”/>;
The XML value identified by the current value of the xsheet variable “countdown” is retrieved and returned as an object for use in a Java™ expression. In contrast, consider the following example where the xsheet code is used as a statement instead of part of an expression:
for (int j=0; j<10; j++) {
}
In this case, the Java™ specific processing unit asks the execution engine to evaluate the xsheet code 10 times. Each time, the results returned by the execution engine are appended to the output of the delimited code section.
As illustrated, for the embodiment, statements within the delimited code section may also invoke one or more local, remote or built-in library functions of the language. In one embodiment, the built-in library functions supported for the example Java™ language include
a illustrates the operational flow of the relevant aspects of execution engine 104 in accordance with one embodiment; more specifically, the operational flow of execution engine 104 for processing data processing representation 106. The embodiment, assumes, execution engine 104, like other conventional execution engines of prior art data processing representations, upon invocation, would parse and interpret the statements of data processing representation 106.
As illustrated, for the embodiment, execution engine 104 first locates and processes the declaration statements declaring the programming languages employed in expressing the data processing representation being processed, block 202. Next, execution engine 104 locates the start of the “next” code section, identifies the language associated with code section, and as described earlier, invoke the corresponding language specific processing unit to process the code section, block 204.
Upon return of execution control, execution engine 104 determines whether end of execution has been reached, block 208, if not, execution engine 104 continues the process at block 204 again, i.e. determining the language of the “next” code section, and invoke the corresponding language specific processing unit to process the “next” code section.
The process continues until eventual execution control is returned where end of execution has been reached.
b illustrates the operational flow of the relevant aspects of a language specific processing unit 105 for processing a non-header code section of the language, in accordance with one embodiment. As illustrated, for the embodiment, the processing unit first locates the “next” statement to be executed, block 222. Upon locating the “next” statement, the processing unit determines if it is a statement of the language or of an unknown language (e.g. the start of a language tag of a sub-section of another language), block 224. If it is a statement of an unknown language, as described earlier, the processing unit invokes the execution engine recursively allowing it to evaluate the foreign language section with the other language specific processing units at its disposal.
If it is a statement of the language the language processor the statement elements accordingly, starting with a next statement element, block 226. Again, the processing unit determines if the statement element is an element recognized within the language or it's an element of an unknown language (e.g. the start of a language tag of a sub-section of another language), block 228. If it is an element of an unknown language, as described earlier, the processing unit invokes the execution engine recursively.
If it is an element recognized by the language, the processing unit processes the element accordingly, block 230. As described earlier, in one embodiment, the language element may be an invocation invoking a library function of the language. If so, the library function is invoked and executed accordingly. The library function may be local or remote, and invoked in a namespace based approach. Invocation of function in a namespace based approach is the subject matter of Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) patent application number US01/46712, entitled “Namespace Based Function Invocation”, contemporaneously filed, and published on May 16, 2002, which claims priority to the earlier enumerated U.S. provisional patent application 60/246,916. PCT Application US01/46712 Application has subsequently entered the U.S. National Stage, application Ser. No. 10/089,139. Readers are referred to the PCT US01/46712 or U.S. Ser. No. 10/089,139 application for further details.
Still referring to
c illustrates the operational flow of the relevant aspects of a language specific processing unit 105 for processing a header section of the language, in accordance with one embodiment. More specifically, the embodiment is the embodiment in support of the Java™ language, incorporating the earlier described features. Other language specific processing units 105 in support of other languages may be likewise implemented with or without modifications and alterations.
As illustrated, upon invocation, the exemplary processing unit 105 determines if it is processing a directive or a declarative statement, block 232. If it is a directive statement being processed, the exemplary processing unit 105 performs the specified operation, e.g. an import operation importing enumerated data packages, as directed, block 234. On the other hand, if it is a declarative statement being processed, the exemplary processing unit 105 processes the declaration, e.g. instantiating a declared processing method or an instance variable, as declared, block 236.
The process continues as earlier described, block 238, until all statements of the header section are processed.
Thus, it can be seen from the above descriptions, a novel method and apparatus for processing and facilitating execution of data processing representations encoded using multiple programming languages has been described. While the present invention has been described in terms of the above illustrated embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention is not limited to the embodiments described. The present invention can be practiced with modification and alteration within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. The description is thus to be regarded as illustrative instead of restrictive on the present invention.
This non-provisional application is related to and claims priority to provisional application No. 60/246,915, entitled “A Data Processing Method Employing Cell Based Data Flow Description”, and application No. 60/246,916, entitled “A Multi-Language Execution Method”, both filed on Nov. 10, 2000, and both specifications are hereby fully incorporated by reference.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/US01/46928 | 11/9/2001 | WO | 00 | 8/19/2002 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
WO02/39647 | 5/16/2002 | WO | A |
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