Minimizing interaction costs among components of computer programs

• US 20020111697A1
• Filed: 02/11/2002
• Published: 08/15/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 02/09/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Rajan, Vadakkedathu T., Wegman, Mark N., Roth, Tova, Kimelman, Douglas N., Sreedhar, Vugranam C.
• Granted Patent: US 7,360,205 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/5
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3409 for performance assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3447 Performance evaluation by modeling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3466 Performance evaluation by tracing or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/865 Monitoring of software

Abstract

A system and method for minimizing total cost of interaction among components of a computer program which are each characterized by at least one implementation property. A implementation property may, for example, be a choice of string representation (e.g. ASCII, UNICODE, EBCDIC or choice of data structure (e.g. hash, tree, compressed). The method comprises the steps of: carrying out a run of the program; monitoring that run to measure an amount of interaction between each pair of components; determining a cost of interaction between each pair of interacting components; determining a choice of implementation properties which minimizes total cost of the run; and assigning choices of implementation properties to said components for a future run of the program.

Claims

1. A method for minimizing total cost of interaction among components of a computer program, each of said components being characterized by at least one implementation property, said method comprising the steps of:

a) carrying out at least a partial run of said program;

b) monitoring said at least partial run of the program to measure an amount of interaction between each pair of components;

c) determining a cost of interaction between each pair of interacting components;

d) determining a choice of implementation properties which minimizes total cost of said at least partial run;

e) assigning said choice of said implementation properties to said components for a subsequent at least partial run of said program.

2. A method as set forth in claim 1, said implementation property comprising a choice of string representation of a component, said amount of interaction measured in step (b) comprising a frequency of interaction between each pair of interacting components;

said cost of interaction comprising a function of said frequency and a cost of converting any differing string representations of said pair to a common string representation.

3. A method as set forth in claim 2, wherein at least one string represented is selected from ASCII, UNICODE, and EBCDIC.

4. A method as set forth in claim 1, said implementation property comprising a choice of data structure of a component, said amount of interaction measured in step (b) comprising a frequency of interaction between each pair of interacting components;

said cost of interaction comprising a function of said frequency and a cost of converting any differing choices of data structures of said pair to a common choice of data structure.

5. A method as set forth in claim 3, wherein at least one data structure is selected from hash, tree, and compressed data structures.

6. A method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the step (d) of determining the choice is carried out by building a graph with nodes representing program components and edges that join adjacent nodes representing interaction therebetween, each edge being characterized by a cost of each interaction, then using a graph cutting technique to find a minimum cut of the graph.

7. A computer readable medium including computer instructions for carrying out a method for minimizing total cost of interaction among components of a computer program running on a computer system, said method comprising the steps of:

a) carrying out at least a partial run of said program;

b) monitoring said at least partial run of the program to measure an amount of interaction between each pair of components;

c) determining a cost of interaction between each pair of interacting components;

d) determining a choice of implementation properties which minimizes total cost of said at least partial run;

e) assigning said choice of said implementation properties to said components for a subsequent at least partial run of said program.

8. A computer readable medium as set forth in claim 7, said implementation property comprising a choice of string representation of a component, said amount of interaction measured in step (b) comprising a frequency of interaction between each pair of interacting components;

said cost of interaction comprising a function of said frequency and a cost of converting any differing string representations of said pair to a common string representation.

9. A computer readable medium as set forth in claim 8, wherein at least one string representation is selected from ASCII, UNICODE, and EBCDIC.

10. A computer readable medium as set forth in claim 7, said implementation property comprising a choice of data structure of a component, said amount of interaction measured in step (b) comprising a frequency of interaction between each pair of interacting components;

said cost of interaction comprising a function of said frequency and a cost of converting any differing choices of data structures of said pair to a common choice of data structure.

11. A computer readable medium as set forth in claim 10, wherein at least one data structure is selected from hash, tree, and compressed data structures.

12. A computer readable medium as set forth in claim 7 wherein the step (d) of determining the choice is carried out by building a graph with nodes program components and edges that join adjacent nodes representing interaction therebetween, each edge being characterized by a cost of each interaction, then using a graph cutting technique to find a minimum cut of the graph.