Method and system of migrating legacy code for upgraded systems

• US 10,324,712 B1
• Filed: 11/17/2015
• Issued: 06/18/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/24/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thomas A. Nolan
• Original Assignee: Thomas A. Nolan
• Inventors: Nolan, Thomas A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Duy Khuong T
• Application Number:
  US14/944,105
• Time in Patent Office: 1,309 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/10 Requirements analysis; Specification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/41 Compilation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/72 Code refactoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/76 Adapting program code to run in a different environment; Porting

Abstract

A method of maintaining or improving functionality of legacy code for operation in a new machine system is disclosed. Reference code and documentation are leveraged to provide functionality of the machine system. The sections may be identified and presented as user defined representations (for example, pseudocode, diagrams, descriptive text, or encapsulations) so that the reference code may be migrated to a newer machine system and the sections may be re-written as necessary to make the sections of reference compatible with the new machine system.

Claims

1. A method of migrating legacy source code from a legacy system for use in a targeted system, comprising:

obtaining a legacy source code from a legacy machine;

identifying an operational function performed by the legacy machine in the legacy source code independent of a platform source of the legacy source code;

refactoring, by a processor, independent of the platform source, the legacy source code by encapsulating the identified operational function with a user defined representation of the identified function;

compiling, by the processor, the refactored legacy source code using a configurable explicative compiler to present the encapsulated identified function as an operating specification of functions using the user defined representation(s), in a person readable language that is higher than machine language and independent of an operating system code of the targeted system to customize the operating specification of functions for operational compatibility with the targeted system'"'"'s operating system code;

determining whether all lines of code in the legacy source code are accounted for with respect to being associated with one of the user defined representations;

examining communication and block diagram structures in the legacy source code to determine encapsulation and refactoring opportunities within the operating specification of functions in response to determining that not all lines of code in the legacy source code are accounted for;

adding an encapsulation and refactoring boundaries to the lines of code in the operating specification of functions for lines of code that are unaccounted for; and

migrating the compiled legacy source code with the operating specification of functions using the user defined representation(s) into the targeted system for operation of the targeted system using the compiled legacy source code to perform the identified function in the targeted system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the user defined representation(s) is in a form comprising:

pseudocode, diagrams, descriptive text, tables, or encapsulations.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the added encapsulation is selected from a library of previously created encapsulations.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the added encapsulation is new;

creating a specification for the added encapsulation; and

adding specification for the added encapsulation to a library of previously created encapsulations.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying communication into and out of the legacy system to ensure that all communication with other entities is maintained.

6. A computer program product providing a configurable explicative compiler for use in migrating legacy source code to a targeted system, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code being configured to:

identify a function related to an operation of a legacy machine in the legacy source code independent of a platform source of the legacy source code;

map the identified function in the legacy source code to a user defined representation(s);

refactor the legacy source code independent of the platform source, by encapsulating the identified function with the user defined representation of the identified function in a person readable language that is higher than machine language;

compile the refactored legacy source code;

determine whether all lines of code in the legacy source code are accounted for with respect to being associated with one of the user defined representations;

examine communication and block diagram structures in the legacy source code to determine encapsulation and refactoring opportunities within an operating specification of functions in response to determining that not all lines of code in the legacy source code are accounted for;

add an encapsulation and refactoring boundaries to the lines of code in the operating specification of functions for lines of code that are unaccounted for; and

provide the compiled legacy source code in a specification for operation of the targeted system.

7. The computer program product of claim 6, wherein the user defined representation(s) is in a form comprising:

pseudocode, diagrams, descriptive text, tables, or encapsulations.

8. The computer program product of claim 6, further comprising computer readable program code being configured to recognize overheads functionality of the legacy source code and map the overheads functionality to another user defined representation for compiling.