System and method for extending a programming language to include multiple dissimilar object systems

• US 20060212881A1
• Filed: 05/22/2006
• Published: 09/21/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/24/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The MathWorks, Inc.
• Original Assignee: The MathWorks, Inc.
• Inventors: Foti, David A., Nylander, Charles G., Jones, Cheryl L.
• Granted Patent: US 7,849,470 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/328
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/463 Naming
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/465 Distributed object oriented systems remote method invocation [RMI] G06F9/548

Abstract

The illustrative embodiment of the present invention provides a method for extending a programming language to interact with foreign object systems. Through the use of an opaque interface, a requesting unit may interact with multiple foreign object systems. The requesting unit is an executable piece of code such as a script, applet or application. A single set of procedures written into the opaque interface and accessible by the requesting unit enable the requesting unit to interact with the foreign object systems. The foreign object systems register with the opaque interface. The registration process for the object systems includes the creation and registration of a defined set of functions, the format for which is provided by the opaque interface. The defined set of functions are called by the procedures in the opaque interface and execute in the object system. The results of the function execution are returned to the requesting unit thereby extending the foreign object system capabilities to the requesting unit.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method of interfacing between an array-oriented system and a non-native object system, said method comprising:

providing an interface between a requesting unit in the array-oriented system and an object system;

specifying a format for at least one procedure for use in the interface; and

invoking at least one function for use in the non-native object system corresponding to the at least one specified procedure in the interface.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the requesting unit comprises at least one command compatible with the MATLAB programming language.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the requesting unit is written in a subset of MATLAB programming language commands.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the non-native object system is a Java system.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of invoking comprises at least one of:

creating, calling and destroying the at least one function in the non-native object system.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the non-native object system is implemented in at least one or a combination of:

Java and C++.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the non-native object system is implemented in at least one or a combination of:

.Net, Visual Basic, C, C#, Perl, and Javascript.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

registering with the interface, by the non-native object system, at least one function accessible to the requesting unit in the array-oriented system.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

assigning, by the non-native object system, an identifying handle to the at least one function accessible to the requesting unit; and

returning the identifying handle to the interface.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

calling, by the requesting unit, a first procedure in the interface; and

calling, by the interface, a first function in the non-native object system, wherein the first function is registered as corresponding to the first procedure.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

registering with the interface, by a second non-native object system, at least one function accessible to the requesting unit in the array-oriented system.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the at least one function registered by the second non-native object system corresponds to the same procedure in the interface as the at least one function registered by the non-native object system.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

maintaining, at the interface, a table of pointers to registered non-native object systems and associated registered functions in the non-native object systems.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

calling, by the requesting unit, a first procedure in the interface; and

checking, by the interface, whether the first procedure corresponds to a registered function in the non-native object system.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

upon determining that the first procedure called by the requesting unit does not correspond to any registered functions in the non-native object system, checking, by the interface, whether the first procedure corresponds to a registered function in the second non-native object system.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the requesting unit is written in at least one of:

an executable code and source code.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the source code is at least one of:

an M-file and a P-file.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the requesting unit is at least one or a combination of:

a script, an applet, and an application.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one function in the non-native object language is at least one or a combination of:

a class, a class method, a constructor, and a function not associated with a class.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one procedure for use in the interface is a set of computer language instructions.

21. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

calling, by the requesting unit, an array-creation function in the interface to create an array in the non-native object system.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the array holds objects of the non-native object system.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein an object of the non-native system is one or a combination of:

a class, method, and attribute.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the non-native object system is an array-capable system.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

using indexing of the non-native object system to create the array.

26. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

using capabilities of the array-oriented system to create the array.

27. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

returning, to the requesting unit, the array from the non-native object system.

28. The method of claim 21, wherein the non-native object system is not an array-capable system and the array-creation function creates the array holding objects of the non-native system using capabilities of the array-oriented system.

29. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

executing the at least one function in the non-native object system.

30. The method of claim 1, wherein a programming language of the requesting unit comprises syntax to call one or more procedures of the interface.

31. The method of claim 1, wherein the requesting unit uses publicly defined procedure calls to call one or more procedures of the interface.

32. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the interface and the non-native object system is located on a different computer from the requesting unit in the array-oriented system.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein invoking the at least one function further comprises remotely causing the at least one function to be invoked in the non-native object system.

34. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

using a class name from the non-native object system to identify a function in the non-native object system.

35. The method of claim 32, further comprising:

using the class name to create an object of that class in the non-native object system.

36. The method of claim 1, wherein the format for the at least one procedure is an abstract base class.

37. Computer-readable medium holding instructions for interfacing from an array-oriented system to a non-native object system, said instructions comprising instructions for:

providing an interface between a requesting unit in the array-oriented system and an object system;

specifying a format for at least one procedure for use in the interface; and

invoking at least one function for use in the non-native object system corresponding to the at least one specified procedure in the interface.

38. The computer-readable medium of claim 37, wherein at least a portion of the requesting unit is written in a subset of MATLAB programming language.

39. The computer-readable medium of claim 38, wherein the non-native object system is a Java system.

40. The computer-readable medium of claim 37, wherein the non-native object system is implemented in at least one or a combination of:

Java and C++.

41. The computer-readable medium of claim 37, further comprising instructions for:

registering with the interface, by the non-native object system, at least one function accessible to the requesting unit in the array-oriented system.

42. The computer-readable medium of claim 41, further comprising instructions for:

assigning, by the non-native object system, an identifying handle to the at least one function accessible to the requesting unit; and

returning the identifying handle to the interface.

43. The computer-readable medium of claim 41, further comprising instructions for:

calling, by the requesting unit, a first procedure in the interface; and

calling, by the interface, a first function in the non-native object system, wherein the first function is registered as corresponding to the first procedure.

44. The computer-readable medium of claim 41, further comprising instructions for:

registering with the interface, by a second non-native object system, at least one function accessible to the requesting unit in the array-oriented system.

45. The computer-readable medium of claim 37, wherein the requesting unit is at least one of:

an executable code, source code, an M-file, a P-file, a script, an applet, and an application.

46. The computer-readable medium of claim 37, wherein the at least one function in the non-native object language is at least one or a combination of:

a class, a class method, and a function not associated with a class.

47. The computer-readable medium of claim 37, further comprising instructions for:

calling, by the requesting unit, an array-creation function in the interface to create an array in the non-native object system.

48. The computer-readable medium of claim 47, wherein the non-native object system is an array-capable system and the instructions further comprise instructions for:

using indexing of the non-native object system to create the array.

49. The computer-readable medium of claim 47, wherein the non-native object system is not an array-capable system and the array-creation function creates the array holding objects of the non-native system using capabilities of the array-oriented system.

50. The computer-readable medium of claim 37, further comprising instructions for:

executing the at least one function in the non-native object system.

51. A computer-implemented interface between an array-oriented system and a non-native object system, said interface comprising:

a requesting unit in the array-oriented system;

a specified format for at least one procedure for use in the interface; and

at least one function created for use in the non-native object system corresponding to the at least one specified procedure in the interface.

52. The computer-implemented interface of claim 51, wherein at least a portion of the requesting unit further comprises a subset of MATLAB programming language commands.

53. The computer-implemented interface of claim 52, wherein the non-native object system is at least one or a combination of:

a Java and a C++ system.

54. The computer-implemented interface of claim 51, further comprising a record of non-native object systems registered with the interface.

55. The computer-implemented interface of claim 54, further comprising an identifying handle assigned to the non-native interface.

56. The computer-implemented interface of claim 52, wherein the requesting unit is at least one or a combination of:

source code, executable code, an M-file, a P-file, a script, an applet, and an application.

57. The computer-implemented interface of claim 51, wherein the at least one function in the non-native object language is at least one or a combination of:

a class, a class method, and a function not associated with a class.

58. The computer-implemented interface of claim 51, further comprising an array holding objects of the non-native object system.

59. The computer-implemented interface of claim 58, wherein the array holding objects of the non-native object system is created using at least one of:

indexing capabilities of the non-native object system and indexing capabilities of the array-oriented system.

60. A computer-implemented system for interfacing from an array-oriented system to a non-native object system, said computer-implemented system comprising:

an interface between an array-oriented system and a non-native object system; and

a requesting unit in the array-oriented system using the interface to execute at least one object in the non-native object system.

61. The computer-implemented system of claim 60, wherein at least a portion of the requesting unit further comprises a subset of MATLAB programming language commands.

62. The computer-implemented system of claim 61, wherein the non-native object system is at least one or a combination of:

a Java and a C++ system.

63. A computer-implemented system for interfacing from an array-oriented system to a non-native object system, said computer-implemented system comprising:

means for providing an interface between a requesting unit in the array-oriented system and an object system;

means for specifying a format for at least one procedure for use in the interface; and

means for invoking at least one function for use in the non-native object system corresponding to the at least one specified procedure in the interface.

64. The computer-implemented system of claim 63, wherein the requesting unit is written in a subset of MATLAB programming language and the non-native object system is at least one or a combination of:

a Java and a C++ system.

65. A method of extending a programming language to support at least one dissimilar object system, the method comprising the steps of:

providing the at least one dissimilar object system, each of the at least one object system including the ability to define classes and to construct and utilize objects specific to the object system;

providing an opaque interface between a requesting unit and the at least one dissimilar object system, the requesting unit being executable code written in an array-oriented programming language, wherein the array-oriented programming language is capable of placing objects into an array and indexing said objects, the opaque interface including a defined set of procedures enabling the requesting unit to interact with the at least one object system through the opaque interface, the defined set of procedures enabling said interaction without the requesting unit having knowledge of the implementation of the object system;

specifying a format for at least one defined set of functions for use in said opaque interface;

creating at least one of said defined set of functions for use in said opaque interface, each said set of functions associated with a specific one of the at least one dissimilar object system, each of the at least one defined set of functions valid only for the associated object system, each said defined set of functions accessible by said set of procedures and executable within said object system; and

using said opaque interface for communications between said requesting unit and at least one of the at least one object system.

66. The method of claim 65, further comprising:

creating a unique identifier for the at least one object system and the set of function associated with the at least one object system;

registering the at least one object system and the set of functions associated with the object system with said opaque interface, said registering using said unique identifier; and

maintaining a record of registered identifiers with said opaque interface.

67. The method of claim 66, further comprising:

searching sets of functions registered with said opaque interface using a search key;

identifying a selected set of functions and its associated object system based on a response to said search key; and

using the identified selected set of functions to perform operations involving said object system.

68. The method of claim 67, wherein the search key is at least one of:

a class name and an unknown object system computer instruction.

69. The method of claim 66, further comprising:

calling one of said set of procedures in said opaque interface with said requesting unit, said one of said set of procedures creating an opaque array for objects of a selected object system by calling one of said set of functions associated with said selected object system, said opaque array holding objects of said selected object system; and

returning said opaque array to said requesting unit using said one of said set of procedures.

70. The method of claim 69, wherein said opaque array returned to said requesting unit is an opaque array using an indexing method from said selected object system.

71. The method of claim 65, wherein the at least one object system is a Java system.