Execution of Program Code Having Language-Level Integration of Program Models

• US 20090241094A1
• Filed: 03/20/2008
• Published: 09/24/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/20/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Sikka, Vishal, Anlauff, Matthias Gerhard
• Granted Patent: US 8,863,115 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/127
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/31 Programming languages or programming paradigms

Abstract

To enable language-level integration of multiple programming languages into a single programming framework, one or more domain specific languages (DSLs) are specified as incremental extensions to a host programming language. An application created in this framework may include program code written in the host language as well as DSL inset code that is written in any of the DSLs. The extensions to the host language are described in DSL specifications, which define how the DSL inset code is processed. At runtime, DSL inset code in the source code is detected and passed to a DSL inset processor for execution according to an appropriate DSL specification, whereas source code in the host language is executed by a host language processor.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for executing program code, the method comprising:

receiving a source code file that contains computer code in a host language integrated with inset computer code in a domain specific language, wherein the domain specific language is different from the host language;

reading the source code file;

responsive to reading computer code in the host language, invoking a set of computing instructions indicated by the computer code in accordance with the host language; and

responsive to reading inset computer code in the domain specific language, invoking a set of computing instructions indicated by the inset code in accordance with the domain specific language.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting the inset computer code using a predefined escape token.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein invoking the set of computing instructions indicated by the inset code in accordance with the domain specific language comprises:

selecting a domain specific language specification for the inset code, wherein the domain specific language specification contains instructions for executing the inset code; and

processing the inset code using the domain specific language specification.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein invoking the set of computing instructions indicated by the inset code in accordance with the domain specific language comprises:

passing the inset code to a domain specific language inset processor for execution thereby; and

passing a binding context to the domain specific language inset processor, the binding context describing a memory state of a computing system when the inset code is read.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the host language is an interpreted language.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the host language is Ruby.

7. A computer program product for executing program code, the computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage medium containing computer program code that comprises:

a host language processor configured to execute program code in a host language;

a domain specific language inset processor configured to execute program code in a domain specific language, wherein the domain specific language is different from the host language; and

a lexical analyzer configured to receive a source code file that contains computer code in a host language integrated with inset computer code in a domain specific language, the lexical analyzer further configured to pass program code in the host language to the host language processor and pass inset code in the domain specific language to the domain specific language inset processor.

8. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the lexical analyzer is further configured to detect the inset computer code using a predefined escape token.

9. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the domain specific language inset processor is configured to execute program code in a domain specific language by:

selecting a domain specific language specification for the inset code, wherein the domain specific language specification contains instructions for executing the inset code; and

processing the inset code using the domain specific language specification.

10. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the domain specific language inset processor is configured to execute program code in a domain specific language by:

passing the inset code to a domain specific language inset processor for execution thereby; and

passing a binding context to the domain specific language inset processor, the binding context describing a memory state of a computing system when the inset code is read.

11. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the host language is an interpreted language.

12. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the host language is Ruby.

13. A computer program product for executing program code, the computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage medium containing computer program code for:

receiving a source code file that contains computer code in a host language integrated with inset computer code in a domain specific language, wherein the domain specific language is different from the host language;

reading the source code file;

responsive to reading computer code in the host language, invoking a set of computing instructions indicated by the computer code in accordance with the host language; and

responsive to reading inset computer code in the domain specific language, invoking a set of computing instructions indicated by the inset code in accordance with the domain specific language.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, further containing computer program code for:

detecting the inset computer code using a predefined escape token in the host language.

15. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein invoking the set of computing instructions indicated by the inset code in accordance with the domain specific language comprises:

selecting a domain specific language specification for the inset code, wherein the domain specific language specification contains instructions for executing the inset code; and

processing the inset code using the domain specific language specification.

16. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein invoking the set of computing instructions indicated by the inset code in accordance with the domain specific language comprises:

passing the inset code to a domain specific language inset processor for execution thereby; and

passing a binding context to the domain specific language inset processor, the binding context describing a memory state of a computing system when the inset code is read.

17. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the host language is an interpreted language.

18. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the host language is Ruby.