PERSISTENT VARIABLES IN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES

• US 20140282447A1
• Filed: 03/13/2013
• Published: 09/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vmware LLC (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: VMware, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Slavov, Milko
• Granted Patent: US 10,055,207 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/146
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/41 Compilation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4493 Object persistence

Abstract

Techniques for automatically persisting variable data are provided. In one embodiment, a computer system can identify, upon compiling or interpreting source code for an application, a variable in the source code that is declared with a predefined keyword. The predefined keyword can indicate that the variable should be persistent. The computer system can then generate, for each instance in the source code where data is assigned to the variable, runtime code for saving the data in a nonvolatile data store.

Claims

1. A method for automatically persisting variable data, the method comprising:

identifying, by a computer system upon compiling or interpreting source code for an application, a variable in the source code that is declared with a predefined keyword, the predefined keyword indicating that the variable should be persistent; and

for each instance in the source code where data is assigned to the variable, generating, by the computer system, runtime code for saving the data in a nonvolatile data store.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein generating the runtime code for saving the data in the nonvolatile data store comprises:

determining a data type of the variable;

selecting, from among a plurality of application programming interfaces (APIs) associated with the nonvolatile data store, an API for saving the data in the nonvolatile data store, the selecting being based on the determined data type; and

generating runtime code for invoking the API.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein invoking the API comprises passing a variable name and a scope identifier associated with the variable to the API, and

wherein the API is configured to convert the variable name and the scope identifier into a key for indexing the data in the nonvolatile data store.

4. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

for each instance in the source code where the variable is accessed, generating runtime code for retrieving the data assigned to the variable from the nonvolatile data store; and

at runtime of the application, executing the runtime code for saving the data in the nonvolatile data store and the runtime code for retrieving the data from the nonvolatile data store.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the variable has a complex data type that defines a plurality of values, and

wherein the runtime code for retrieving the data assigned to the variable is configured to retrieve a subset of the plurality of values.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the variable has a predefined data type or a user-defined data type.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the nonvolatile data store is a distributed storage system,

wherein the distributed storage system is configured to store the data assigned to the variable across a plurality of distributed storage nodes, and

wherein the distributed storage system is configured to replicate the data assigned to the variable across a plurality of distributed storage nodes.

8. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon computer software executable by a processor, the computer software embodying a method for automatically persisting variable data, the method comprising:

identifying, upon compiling or interpreting source code for an application, a variable in the source code that is declared with a predefined keyword, the predefined keyword indicating that the variable should be persistent; and

for each instance in the source code where data is assigned to the variable, generating runtime code for saving the data in a nonvolatile data store.

9. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8 wherein generating the runtime code for saving the data in the nonvolatile data store comprises:

determining a data type of the variable;

selecting, from among a plurality of APIs associated with the nonvolatile data store, an API for saving the data in the nonvolatile data store, the selecting being based on the determined data type; and

generating runtime code for invoking the API.

10. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9 wherein invoking the API comprises passing a variable name and a scope identifier associated with the variable to the API, and

wherein the API is configured to convert the variable name and the scope identifier into a key for indexing the data in the nonvolatile data store.

11. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9 wherein the method further comprises:

for each instance in the source code where the variable is accessed, generating runtime code for retrieving the data assigned to the variable from the nonvolatile data store; and

at runtime of the application, executing the runtime code for saving the data in the nonvolatile data store and the runtime code for retrieving the data from the nonvolatile data store.

12. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11 wherein the variable has a complex data type that defines a plurality of values, and

wherein the runtime code for retrieving the data assigned to the variable is configured to retrieve a subset of the plurality of values.

13. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8 wherein the variable has a predefined data type or a user-defined data type.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 8 wherein the nonvolatile data store is a distributed storage system,

wherein the distributed storage system is configured to store the data assigned to the variable across a plurality of distributed storage nodes, and

wherein the distributed storage system is configured to replicate the data assigned to the variable across a plurality of distributed storage nodes.

15. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory having stored thereon instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

identify, upon compiling or interpreting source code for an application, a variable in the source code that is declared with a predefined keyword, the predefined keyword indicating that the variable should be persistent; and

for each instance in the source code where data is assigned to the variable, generate runtime code for saving the data in a nonvolatile data store.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein generating the runtime code for saving the data in the nonvolatile data store comprises:

determining a data type of the variable;

selecting, from among a plurality of APIs associated with the nonvolatile data store, an API for saving the data in the nonvolatile data store, the selecting being based on the determined data type; and

generating runtime code for invoking the API.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein invoking the API comprises passing a variable name and a scope identifier associated with the variable to the API, and

wherein the API is configured to convert the variable name and the scope identifier into a key for indexing the data in the nonvolatile data store.

18. The system of claim 16 wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:

for each instance in the source code where the variable is accessed, generate runtime code for retrieving the data assigned to the variable from the nonvolatile data store; and

at runtime of the application, execute the runtime code for saving the data in the nonvolatile data store and the runtime code for retrieving the data from the nonvolatile data store.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the variable has a complex data type that defines a plurality of values, and

wherein the runtime code for retrieving the data assigned to the variable is configured to retrieve a subset of the plurality of values.

20. The system of claim 15 wherein the variable has a predefined data type or a user-defined data type.

21. The system of claim 15 wherein the nonvolatile data store is a distributed storage system,

wherein the distributed storage system is configured to store the data assigned to the variable across a plurality of distributed storage nodes, and

wherein the distributed storage system is configured to replicate the data assigned to the variable across a plurality of distributed storage nodes.