Adaptive selection of programming language versions for compilation of software programs

• US 10,073,684 B2
• Filed: 07/29/2016
• Issued: 09/11/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Goetz, Brian, Buckley, Alexander R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Rivera, Anibal
• Application Number:
  US15/223,759
• Publication Number:
  US 20160342397A1
• Time in Patent Office: 774 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/34 Graphical or visual programming
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/36 Software reuse
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/41 Compilation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/443 Optimisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/456 Parallelism detection
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/47 Retargetable compilers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/71 Version control security arrangements therefor G06F21/57; Configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44536 Selecting among different versions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/449 Object-oriented method invocation or resolution
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/466 Transaction processing

Abstract

The disclosed embodiments provide a system that facilitates the development and compilation of a software program. During operation, the system obtains a set of compilation units to be used in the software program and a version order associated with a programming language of the compilation units. Next, for each compilation unit from the set of compilation units, the system uses the version order to select a version of the programming language that is compatible with the compilation unit. The system then uses the version to compile the compilation unit.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

at a computer system, obtaining;

a set of source code modules to be used in a software program;

a numeric range of versions for a programming language platform with which a compiler may compile, wherein the numeric range of versions may comprise supplemental alphanumeric characters, and wherein a version of the programming language platform outside of the numeric range of versions cannot be used and compiled by the compiler; and

ordering a numeric order between one or more older versions of the programming language platform and one or more newer versions of the programming language platform, wherein one or more versions of the programming language platform are to be used while compiling the source code modules; and

for each source code module from the set of source code modules;

selecting a first version of the programming language platform from a set of numeric versions of the programming language platform by using the numeric order with the numeric range of versions, wherein the selected first version of the programming language platform is compatible with the source code module; and

compiling the source code module with the selected first version of the programming language platform.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising linking the set of source code modules to libraries associated with each version of the programming language platform, wherein source code modules that are compiled using different versions of the programming language platform are linked to different libraries associated with the different versions of the programming language platform.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the numeric order comprises at least one of an ascending order, a descending order, and a user-specified order.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein a second version of the programming language platform is selected if the source code module fails to compile the first version of the programming language platform and compiles successfully with the second version of the programming language platform.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the second version of the programming language platform is selected only if other source code modules in the set of source code modules also compile successfully with the second version of the programming language platform.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of source code modules corresponds to at least one of a package, and a code base for the software program.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein:

a first source code module of the set of source code modules is compiled with the first version of the programming language platform in the numeric order and a second source code module of the set of source code modules is compiled with the second version of the programming language platform in the numeric order; and

the first source code module is linked to a first library for the first version of the programming language platform in the numeric order and the second source code module is linked to a second library for the second version of the programming language platform in the numeric order.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting the first version of the programming language platform that is compatible with the source code module involves:

attempting to compile the source code module using the first version of the programming language platform in the numeric order;

responsive to the source code module compiling successfully with the first version of the programming language platform, selecting the first version of the programming language platform; and

responsive to the source code module not compiling successfully with the first version of the programming language platform, attempting to compile the source code module using a second version of the programming language platform following the first version of the programming language in the numeric order.

9. A system, comprising:

a processor;

a memory;

a software development kit (SDK) configured to facilitate creation of a set of source code modules to be used in a software program; and

a compilation manager that;

obtains a numeric order between one or more older versions of a programming language platform and one or more newer versions of the programming language platform, wherein one or more versions of the programming language platform are to be used while compiling the source code modules; and

obtains a numeric range of versions for a programming language platform with which the compilation manager may compile, wherein the numeric range of versions may comprise supplemental alphanumeric characters, and wherein a version of the programming language platform outside of the numeric range of versions cannot be used and compiled by the compilation manager; and

for each source code module from the set of source code modules,

selects a first version of the programming language platform from a set of numeric versions of the programming language platform by using the numeric order with the numeric range of versions, wherein the selected first version of the programming language platform is compatible with the source code module, and

compiles the source code module with the selected first version of the programming language platform.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the compilation manager additionally links the set of source code modules to libraries associated with each version of the programming language platform, wherein source code modules that are compiled using different versions of the programming language platform are linked to different libraries associated with the different versions of the programming language platform.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein a second version of the programming language platform is selected if the source code module compiles successfully with the second version of the programming language platform.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the second version of the programming language platform is selected only if other source code modules in the set of source code modules also compile successfully with the second version of the programming language platform.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein while selecting the first version of the programming language platform that is compatible with the source code module, the compilation manager:

attempts to compile the source code module using the first version of the programming language platform in the numeric order;

responsive to the source code module compiling successfully with the first version of the programming language platform, selects the first version of the programming language platform; and

responsive to the source code module not compiling successfully with the first version of the programming language platform, attempts to compile the source code module using a second version of the programming language platform following the first version of the programming language platform in the numeric order.

14. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method comprising:

obtaining a set of source code modules to be used in a software program and a numeric order between older versions of a programming language platform and newer versions of the programming language platform, wherein one or more versions of the programming language platform are to be used while compiling the source code modules;

obtaining a numeric range of versions for a programming language platform with which a compiler may compile, wherein the numeric range of versions may comprise supplemental alphanumeric characters, and wherein a version outside of the numeric range of versions cannot be used and compiled by the compiler; and

for each source code module from the set of source code modules;

selecting a first version of the programming language platform from a set of numeric versions of the programming language platform by using the numeric order with the numeric range of versions, wherein the selected version of the programming language platform is compatible with the source code module; and

compiling the source code module with the selected first version of the programming language platform.

15. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 14, further comprising linking the set of source code modules to libraries associated with each version of the programming language platform, wherein source code modules that are compiled using different versions of the programming language platform are linked to different libraries associated with the different versions of the programming language platform.

16. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 14, wherein using the numeric order to select the first version of the programming language platform comprises:

attempting to compile the source code module using the first version of the programming language platform in the numeric order;

responsive to the source code module compiling successfully with the first version of the programming language platform, selecting the first version of the programming language platform; and

responsive to the source code module not compiling successfully with the first version of the programming language platform, attempting to compile the source code module using a second version of the programming language platform following the first version of the programming language platform in the numeric order.