Wrapper for enabling an object otented application to maintain virtual memory using procedural function calls

• US 5,473,777 A
• Filed: 07/19/1993
• Issued: 12/05/1995
• Est. Priority Date: 07/19/1993
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Object Technology Licensing Corporation
• Inventors: Moeller, Christopher P., Bolton, Eugenie L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kriess, Kevin A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): BUTLER, DENNIS
• Application Number:
  US08/094,670
• Time in Patent Office: 869 Days
• Field of Search: 395/700, 395/400, 395/425, 395/650, 364/256.3, 364/280
• US Class Current: 719/328
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4488 Object-oriented
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45537 Provision of facilities of other operating environments, e.g. WINE I/O emulation G06F13/105

Abstract

An apparatus for enabling an object-oriented application to access in an object-oriented manner a procedural operating system having a native procedural interface is disclosed. The apparatus includes a computer and a memory component in the computer. A code library is stored in the memory component. The code library includes computer program logic implementing an object-oriented class library. The object-oriented class library comprises related object-oriented classes for enabling the application to access in an object-oriented manner services provided by the operating system. The object-oriented classes include methods for accessing the operating system services using procedural function calls compatible with the native procedural interface of the operating system. The computer processes object-oriented statements contained in the application and defined by the class library by executing methods from the class library corresponding to the object-oriented statements.

Claims

1. An apparatus for enabling an object-oriented application to manipulate in an object-oriented manner a memory component in a computer system with a procedural operating system having a native procedural interface, the apparatus comprising:

(a) a computer;

(b) a memory component;

(c) a code library, stored in the memory component, comprising computer program logic implementing an object-oriented class library, the object-oriented class library comprising related object-oriented classes, including virtual memory class, ses, for enabling the object-oriented application to access the memory component as a virtual memory, the object-oriented classes comprising methods for accessing the memory component using procedural function calls compatible with the native procedural interface of the procedural operating system;

(d) means, in the computer, for instantiating a first object from one of the virtual memory classes in the class library and for executing methods in the first object for creating a virtual memory space in the memory component; and

(e) means, in the computer for instantiating a second object from one of the virtual memory classes in the class library and for executing methods in the second object for accessing in an object-oriented manner the virtual memory space in the computer.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the virtual memory classes comprise a first object-oriented virtual memory class encapsulating a contiguous range of virtual memory comprised of a plurality of memory objects in the computer, the first object-oriented virtual memory class having methods for manipulating the encapsulated virtual memory range using the procedural function calls, and wherein the second object instantiating means comprises means controlled by the object-oriented application for instantiating a third object from the first object-oriented virtual memory, class and for executing the methods in the third object to manipulate the encapsulated contiguous virtual memory range.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the object-oriented application operates in a task address space and the virtual memory classes comprise a second object-oriented virtual memory class having methods for accessing the encapsulated contiguous virtual memory range, for obtaining memory attribute information relating to the encapsulated contiguous virtual memory range, and for mapping memory objects into the address space and wherein the second object instantiating means comprises means controlled by the object-oriented application program for instantiating a fourth object from the second object-oriented virtual memory class and for executing the methods in the fourth object for accessing the encapsulated contiguous virtual memory range.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the memory, component has a heap portion and the virtual memory classes comprise a third object-oriented virtual memory class encapsulating a portion of the memory component, the portion having a size specified by the object-oriented application, a fourth object-oriented virtual memory class having methods for managing the encapsulated memory component portion on the memory component heap portion, and a fifth object-oriented virtual memory class for managing the encapsulated memory component portion using virtual memory operations and wherein the first object instantiating means comprises means controlled by the object-oriented application program for instantiating a fifth object from the third object-oriented virtual memory class, the second object instantiating means comprises means controlled by the object-oriented application program for instantiating a sixth object from the fourth object-oriented virtual memory class and a seventh object from the fifth object-oriented virtual memory class and for executing the methods in the sixth and seventh objects for accessing the encapsulated contiguous virtual memory range.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the virtual memory classes comprise a sixth object-oriented virtual memory class for defining a random access data stream for transferring data between the object-oriented application and the encapsulated virtual memory space established by the first object.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the object-oriented application program is associated with a virtual address space, the memory component is comprised of a plurality of memory objects and the virtual memory classes comprise a seventh object-oriented virtual memory class having a data structure for encapsulating data and having methods for mapping the encapsulated data into the virtual address space, and wherein the first instantiating means is controlled by the object-oriented application program to instantiate objects from the seventh object-oriented virtual memory class to represent at least one of the plurality of memory objects in the computer.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the first instantiating means is controlled by the object-oriented application program to instantiate memory objects from the seventh object-oriented virtual memory class to represent data files and device partitions.

8. Wrapper apparatus for providing an object-oriented interface between an application program operating in a task address space in a computer having a memory component and a procedural operating system having a native procedural interface with procedural function calls to create and manipulate a virtual memory range in the memory component, the wrapper apparatus allowing the application program to access and manipulate the virtual memory range using objects during an application program runtime, the wrapper apparatus comprising:

(a) means operable prior to the application program runtime for creating a code library comprising object-oriented, virtual memory classes comprising data structures for defining virtual memory range and methods for using the procedural function calls compatible with the native procedural interface of the procedural operating system to create the virtual memory rang and to manipulate the created virtual memory range;

(b) means operable prior to the application program runtime for storing the code library in the memory component;

(c) means operable during the application program runtime for referencing the code library in the task address space; and

(c) means responsive to a request by the application program for an instantiation of an object which creates and manipulates a virtual memory range for instantiating a first object from the code library referenced in the task address space and for calling methods in the first object to cause procedural function calls to be made to the procedural operating system to create and manipulate the virtual memory range.

9. A method for providing an object-oriented interface between an application program operating in a task address space in a computer having a memory component and a procedural operating system having a native procedural interface with procedural function calls to create and manipulate a virtual memory range in the memory component, the wrapper apparatus allowing the application program to access and manipulate the virtual memory range using objects during application program runtime, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) creating a code library comprising virtual memory classes data structures for defining a virtual memory range and methods for using the procedural function calls compatible with the native procedural interface of the procedural operating system to create the virtual memory range and to manipulate the created virtual memory range;

(b) storing the code library in the memory component;

(c) running the application program;

(d) creating a reference to the code library, into the task address space;

(e) instantiating objects which create and manipulate a virtual memory range from the code library referenced in the task address space; and

(f) calling methods in the created objects to cause procedural function calls to be made to the procedural operating system to create and manipulate the virtual memory range.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein step (a) comprises the step of:

(a1) creating a first object-oriented virtual memory class having data defining a contiguous range of virtual memory in the memory component, the first object-oriented virtual memory class having methods for creating the contiguous virtual memory range in the memory component by making procedural function calls to the procedural operating system.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the memory component is comprised of a plurality of memory objects and step (a) comprises the step of:

(a2) creating a second object-oriented virtual memory class having methods for accessing the created virtual memory range, to obtain memory attribute information relating to the created virtual memory range, and to map the plurality of memory objects into the task address space.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the memory component comprises a heap portion and step (a) comprises the step of:

(a3) creating a third object-oriented virtual memory class having data defining a portion of the memory component having a size specified by the application program;

(a4) creating a fourth object-oriented virtual memory class for managing the defined memory component portion on the heap and

(a5) creating a fifth object-oriented virtual memory class for managing the defined memory portion using virtual memory operations.

13. The method, of claim 12, wherein step (a) comprises the step of:

(a6) creating a sixth object-oriented virtual memory class having data for defining a random access data stream for transferring data between the application program and the defined memory portion.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the object-oriented application program is associated with a virtual address space, the memory component is comprised of a plurality of memory objects and step (a) comprises the steps of:

(a7) creating a seventh object-oriented virtual memory class having a data structure for encapsulating data and having methods for mapping the encapsulated data into the virtual address space; and

(a8) instantiating objects from the seventh object-oriented virtual memory, class to represent at least one of the plurality of memory objects in the computer.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein step (a) comprises the step of:

(a9) instantiating objects from the seventh object-oriented virtual memory class to represent data files and device partitions.

16. An apparatus for enabling an object-oriented application to use objects to access and manipulate a memory in a computer system with a procedural operating system which is controlled by procedural function calls, the application operating in a task address space in the memory and the apparatus comprising:

(a) an object-oriented class library in the memory, the class library containing code defining a plurality of classes for creating objects for use by the application, each of the plurality of classes comprising data structures and code defining methods for accessing and manipulating the memory using the procedural function calls;

(b) means controlled by the application program and responsive to a request by the application program for the instantiation of an object from one of the plurality of classes in the class library for referencing the class library in the task address space and instantiating the object from the class library referenced in the task address space; and

(c) means controlled by the application program for using the methods in the object to access and manipulate the memory.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the class library contains a first virtual memory class comprising data structures for defining a contiguous range of virtual memory in the computer and methods for creating the virtual memory range from at least one memory object using the procedural function calls.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the class library contains a second virtual memory class having methods for accessing a virtual memory range created by an object instantiated from the first virtual memory class and for mapping memory objects in the virtual memory range into the task address space.

19. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the memory contains an application-specific memory and a heap memory and wherein the class library contains a third virtual memory class comprising data structures for defining a portion of heap memory having a size specified by the application, a fourth virtual memory class for enabling the application to manage the heap memory portion using the procedural function calls, and a fifth virtual memory class for enabling the application to manage the heap memory portion using the procedural function calls.

20. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the class library contains a sixth virtual memory class containing methods for defining a random access data stream for transferring data between the application program and the memory.

21. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the task address space is a virtual address space, the class library contains a seventh virtual memory class having methods for mapping data in the memory into the task virtual address space, and wherein the apparatus comprises means controlled by the application program for creating objects representing a plurality of memory objects in the computer by instantiating the seventh virtual memory class.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein each of the plurality of memory objects contains a reference to a data source, which data source includes a data file and a device partition.

23. A method for enabling an object-oriented application to use objects to access and manipulate a memory in a computer system with a procedural operating system which is controlled by procedural function calls, the application operating in a task address space in the memory and the method comprising the steps of:

(a) creating an object-oriented class library in the memory, the class library containing code defining a plurality of classes for creating objects for use by the application, each of the plurality of classes comprising data structures and code defining methods for accessing and manipulating the memory using the procedural function calls;

(b) referencing the class library in the task address space during the run-time of the application;

(c) instantiating an object from the class library referenced in the task address space; and

(d) using the methods in the object to access and manipulate the memory.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein step (a) comprises the step of:

(a1) creating a first virtual memory class comprising data structures for defining a contiguous range of virtual memory in the computer and methods for creating the virtual memory range from at least one memory object using the procedural function calls.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein step (a) comprises the step of:

(a2) creating a second virtual memory class having methods for accessing the virtual memory range;

wherein step (c) comprises the steps of;

(c1) instantiating a first object from the first virtual memory class; and

(c2) instantiating a second object from the second virtual memory class; and

wherein step (d) comprises the step of;

(d1) using the first object to define a virtual memory range; and

(d2) using the second object to map memory objects in the virtual memory range into the task address space.

26. The method of claim 23, wherein the memory contains an application-specific memory and a heap memory and wherein step (a) comprises the step of:

(a3) creating a third virtual memory class comprising data structures for defining a portion of heap memory having a size specified by the application;

(a4) creating a fourth virtual memory class for managing the heap memory portion using the procedural function calls; and

(a5) creating a fifth virtual memory class for managing the heap memory portion using the procedural function calls.

27. The method of claim 23, wherein step (a) comprises the step of:

(a6) creating a sixth virtual memory class containing methods for defining a random access data stream for transferring data between the application program and the memory.

28. The method of claim 23, wherein the task address space is a virtual address space and wherein step (a) comprises the step of:

(a7) creating a seventh virtual memory class having methods for mapping data in the memory into the task virtual address space; and

wherein step (c) comprises the step of;

(c3) instantiating the seventh virtual memory class to create objects representing a plurality of memory objects in the computer.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein step (a7) comprises the step of:

(a7a) creating the seventh virtual memory class with data including a reference to a data source, which data source includes a data file and a device partition.