Meta-programming methods and apparatus

• US 5,905,894 A
• Filed: 10/29/1997
• Issued: 05/18/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: De Bonet, Jeremy S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Downs, Robert W.
• Assistant Examiner(s): ZHEN, WEI Y
• Application Number:
  US08/959,867
• Time in Patent Office: 566 Days
• Field of Search: 395/705
• US Class Current: 717/146
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/30 Creation or generation of source code
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/423 Preprocessors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/70 Software maintenance or management

Abstract

The described programming techniques allow for the passing of code arguments to functions, referred to as meta-functions, at compile time through the use of compiler directives. Methods for implementing functions, referred to as meta-loops, which allow for a block of code to be repeated a variable number of times at compile time are also described. The programming methods of the present invention allow for greater code reuse since code arguments can be used to modify the functionality of a meta-function thereby altering its functionality. Meta-functions and meta-loops can also be used to generate a group of functions which share common behaviors. In accordance with the present invention the common behaviors are produced via the use of a common meta-function. This allows the behavior of a group of functions to be altered. This reduces the time and expense associated with creating and maintaining libraries of functions with shared behaviors. Because the programming methods of the present invention can be implemented using compiler commands and functionality supported by existing compiled languages such as C++ they serve to supplement and argument the functionality of existing compiled languages without requiring modifications thereto.

Claims

1. A method of programming a computer comprising the steps of:

generating a first function routine including a first label representing a code argument; and

generating a first program segment including;

i. a first directive which defines the first label to be a first block of code; and

ii. a second directive which instructs a preprocessor to include the first function routine into the first program segment after the first directive.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first directive is a compiler directive, the method further comprising the step of:

generating a second program segment including,

i. a third compiler directive which defines the first label to be a second block of code; and

ii. includes a fourth directive which instructs the preprocessor to include the first function routine into the second program segment after the third compiler directive.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising the steps of:

storing the first function routine in a first file;

storing the first and second program segments in a second file; and

compiling the contents of the second file including the first and second program segments to generate a compiled program therefrom.

4. The method of claim 3,

wherein the step of generating a first function routine includes the step of generating function name label;

and

wherein the step of generating a first program segment includes the step of;

generating a directive which instructs the preprocessor to substitute a function name for the first function name.

5. The method of claim 2,

wherein the step of generating the first function routine includes the step of generating a function name label;

and

wherein the step of generating a first program segment includes the step of;

generating a directive which instructs the preprocessor to substitute a function name for the first function name.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

generating an n^th program segment, where n is a positive integer greater than one, the n^th program segment including,

i. an additional compiler directive which defines the first label to be an n^th block of code; and

ii. includes a further additional directive which instructs the preprocessor to include the first function routine into the n^th program segment, and

repeating the step of generating an n^th program segment multiple times to generate a plurality of program segments.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising the steps of:

generating a standard function routine without including a compiler directive in the standard function routine; and

arranging the generated first through n^th program segments and standard function routine into a main program.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising the steps of:

storing the first function routine in a first file;

storing the main program in a second file; and

compiling the main program.

9. The method of claim 8,

wherein the step of generating a first function routine includes the step of generating a function name label;

and

wherein the step of generating a first program segment includes the step of;

generating a directive which instructs the preprocessor to substitute a function name for the first function name.

10. The method of claim 9,

wherein the first directive is a # define compiler directive;

and

wherein the second directive is a # include compiler directive.

11. The method of claim 8,

wherein the main program is an image processing program.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of generating a first program function routine includes the steps of:

generating and including in the first function routine a first undefined control parameter label indicative of a number of code argument iterations to be performed;

generating and including in the first function routine a plurality of conditional compiler directives which are a function of the first control parameter label.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the step of generating the first program segment includes the step of:

generating and including in the first program segment a directive which instructs the preprocessor to define the first control parameter to a preselected integer value.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of generating a first program function routine includes the steps of:

generating and including in the first function routine a first undefined control parameter label indicative of a loop starting point and a second undefined control parameter label indicative of a loop ending point, the loop starting and ending points being used to control the number of code argument iterations to be performed;

generating and including in the first function routine a plurality of conditional compiler directives which are a function of the first and second control parameter labels.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the plurality of conditional compiler directives include sets of if compiler directives and else compiler directives, one set of if and else compiler directives being included for and corresponding to each potential iteration of the code argument.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein a block of code after each if compiler directive defines, as a function of the first label, a function associated with the code iteration to which the if compiler directive corresponds.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein a block of code after each else compiler directive defines a function associated with the code iteration to which the else compiler directive corresponds to nothing.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the step of generating the first function routine further comprises the step of:

generating and including in the first function routine code which instantiates the functions associated with the if and else compiler directions.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the step of generating the first program segment includes the step of:

generating and including in the first program segment a pair of compiler directives, instructing the preprocessor to define the first and second control parameter labels to preselected values.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the first block of code to which the first label is defined is a function which accepts an additional block of code as an argument.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the step of generating a first program segment includes the step of:

using a concatenate compiler directive in conjunction with the first compiler directive which defines the first label.

22. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of generating a first program segment includes the step of:

using a concatenate compiler directive in conjunction with the first compiler directive which defines the first label.

23. The method of claim 14, wherein the first block of code to which the first label is defined is a function which accepts an additional block of code as an argument.

24. A computer-readable medium comprising:

computer-executable instructions for performing the steps of claim 1 in response to input from a user of the computer readable medium.

25. The computer-readable medium of claim 24, further comprising:

computer-executable instructions for performing the additional steps recited in claim 14 in response to input from a user of the computer readable medium.

26. A system comprising:

a processor for executing computer programs;

a memory device coupled to the processor for storing files including program segments, computer programs and computer functions;

means for generating a first function routine including on undefined first label representing a code argument;

means for storing the first function routine in a first file;

means for generating a first program segment including;

a first compiler directive which instructs a compiler to replace subsequent occurrences of the first label in the first function routine with a first block of code; and

a second compiler directive which instructs a compiler to incorporate the contents of the first file into the first program segment.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, further comprising:

means for specifying a variable number of times the first block of code is to be iterated in the first function routine.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, further comprising:

means for compiling the first program segment to generate executable code therefrom.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the means for compiling the first program segment is an ANSI C compliant compiler stored in the memory.

30. The apparatus of claim 27, further comprising:

means for receiving and storing data representing an image; and

means for using the executable code to control the processor to perform an image processing operation on the stored data.

31. A method of programming a computer, comprising the steps of:

generating a function routine;

generating a code argument to be included in the function routine;

generating, subsequent to the generation of the function routine, a parameter indicating the number of times the code argument is to be repeated within the function routine;

generating, as a function of the code argument and the parameter, a computer program including the function routine, the function routine including the code argument repeated the number of times indicated by the control parameter.