PUSH-BASED APPLICATION PROGRAM INTERFACE BASED ON DUALS OF A PULL-BASED APPLICATION PROGRAM INTERFACE

• US 20110138403A1
• Filed: 12/08/2009
• Published: 06/09/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Meijer, Henricus Johannes Maria, Manolescu, Dragos A., Dyer, John Wesley
• Application Number:
  US12/633,160
• Publication Number:
  US 20110138403A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/328
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4486 Formation of subprogram jump address

Abstract

Methods and devices are provided for defining push-based standard sequence operators based on respective duals of corresponding pull-based standard sequence operators. A push-based application program interface (API) may be defined based on mathematical duals of a corresponding pull-based API. The push-based API may include a library of routines, which further may include push-based standard sequence operators defined based on deriving mathematical duals of corresponding pull-based standard sequence operators. A protocol for processing a push-based collection may be defined as a mathematical dual of a protocol for processing a pull-based collection. In various embodiments, mathematical duality with respect to synchronous, pull-based, collections may be exploited to define operators for processing asynchronous push-based collections.

Claims

1. A method in a computing device for defining a push-based application program interface, the method comprising:

defining the push-based application program interface based on deriving duals of aspects of a pull-based application program interface, wherein

the method is implemented on the computing device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the defining of the push-based application program interface further comprises:

defining an subject/observer design pattern for push-based collections based on a dual of at least some aspects of an iterator design pattern for pull-based collections.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

defining push-based standard sequence operators based on respective duals of corresponding pull-based standard sequence operators.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

defining push-based operators based on the push-based standard sequence operators, wherein

semantics of the push-based operators are based on a relationship between push-based collections and pull-based collections.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the defining of the push-based standard sequence operators introduces concurrency.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the standard sequence operators comprise:

a first operator for returning a push-based collection with one value;

a second operator which does not produce a value;

a third operator that produces an empty push-based collection;

a selector operator that is applied to each value in an push-based collection; and

a fourth operator that flattens a plurality of push-based collections to produce a single push-based collection that preserves causality among a plurality of events of the plurality of push-based collections.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

defining a protocol for a push-based collection as a dual of a protocol for a pull-based collection.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the defining of a protocol for a push-based collection as a dual of a protocol for a pull-based collection further comprises:

optimizing the protocol for the push-based collection.

9. A computing device comprising:

at least one processor; and

a memory connected to the at least one processor, the memory further comprising;

instructions for providing a push-based application programming interface, the push-based application program interface having been defined based on deriving mathematical duals of aspects of a pull-based application program interface.

10. The computing device of claim 9, wherein:

the application programming interface comprises a library of routines,

and the library of routines includes a plurality of push-based standard sequence operators defined by deriving duals of corresponding pull-based standard sequence operators.

11. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the plurality of push-based standard sequence operators implement LINQ standard sequence operators.

12. The computing device of claim 10, wherein:

the library of routines includes a routine to convert a pull-based collection to a push-based collection, and

a sequence operator operating on the push-based collection introduces concurrency to a resulting push-based collection.

13. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the library of routines includes a plurality of push-based operators defined in terms of the plurality of push-based standard sequence operators.

14. The computing device of claim 13, wherein semantics of the push-based operators are based on a relationship between push-based collections and pull-based collections.

15. A tangible machine-readable medium having instructions recorded therein for at least one processor of a computing device to perform a method, the method comprising:

defining a push-based application program interface based on deriving a dual of a pull-based application program interface, the application program interface including a plurality of routines within a library, the plurality of routines including a plurality of push-based operators, wherein

the method is performed on a computing device.

16. The tangible machine-readable medium of claim 15, wherein:

a first one of the push-based operators converts a pull-based collection to a push-based collection, and

a second one of the push-based operators introduces concurrency to the push-based collection.

17. The tangible machine-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:

defining a first protocol for processing push-based collections, the defined protocol being a dual of a second protocol for processing pull-based collections.

18. The tangible machine-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the plurality of push-based operators are comprised of a plurality of push-based standard sequence operators.

19. The tangible machine-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the plurality of push-based standard sequence operators are based on deriving respective duals of corresponding pull-based standard sequence operators.

20. The tangible machine-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the plurality of push-based standard sequence operators comprise at least 3 operators selected from a group consisting of:

a first operator that returns a push-based collection with one value;

a second operator that does not return after being called;

a third operator that returns an empty push-based collection;

a fourth operator that applies a function to each value in a push-based collection; and

a fifth operator that flattens a plurality of push-based collections to produce a single push-based collection.