Tracker class for object-oriented programming environments
First Claim
1. A method of tracking objects in an object-oriented programming environment executed by a computer, comprising the steps of:
- (a) creating a target object and associated tracker object in a memory of the computer, wherein the tracker object is associated with the target object through inheritance of a tracker class that generates the tracker object by a target class that generates the target object;
(b) storing a pointer to the target object in the associated tracker object;
(c) inserting the associated tracker object into a data structure in the memory of the computer, so that the target object can be managed in a well-defined manner; and
(d) performing a management function on the target object using a member function of the tracker object.
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Abstract
The present invention discloses a method, apparatus, and article of manufacture for providing object tracking capabilities in object-oriented programming environments using a tracker class and associated functions, and a memory for storing tracker objects. The tracker class, once defined as a base class of any target class that needs the tracking capability, automatically tracks all the objects instantiated from the target class in a linked list. Objects instantiated from classes derived from the tracker class are automatically tracked when the target objects are initialized, be it on a heap or on a stack, because the constructor of the tracker class is invoked by the constructor of the target class. The tracker class is defined as a template, so that it can be applied to any type of target object.
115 Citations
31 Claims
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1. A method of tracking objects in an object-oriented programming environment executed by a computer, comprising the steps of:
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(a) creating a target object and associated tracker object in a memory of the computer, wherein the tracker object is associated with the target object through inheritance of a tracker class that generates the tracker object by a target class that generates the target object; (b) storing a pointer to the target object in the associated tracker object; (c) inserting the associated tracker object into a data structure in the memory of the computer, so that the target object can be managed in a well-defined manner; and (d) performing a management function on the target object using a member function of the tracker object. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. An apparatus for tracking objects in an object-oriented programming environment executed by a computer, comprising:
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(a) a computer having a memory; (b) means, performed by the computer, for creating a target object and associated tracker object in a memory of the computer, wherein the tracker object is associated with the target object through inheritance of a tracker class that generates the tracker object by a target class that generates the target object; (c) means, performed by the computer, for storing a pointer to the target object in the associated tracker object; (d) means, performed by the computer, for inserting the associated tracker object into a data structure in the memory of the computer, so that the target object can be managed in a well-defined manner; and (e) means, performed by the computer, for performing a management function on the target object using a member function of the tracker object. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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12. A program storage device, readable by a computer having a memory and coupled to a data storage device, tangibly embodying one or more programs of instructions executable by the computer to perform method steps for tracking objects in an object-oriented programming environment executed by the computer, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) creating a target object and associated tracker object in a memory of the computer, wherein the tracker object is associated with the target object through inheritance of a tracker class that generates the tracker object by a target class that generates the target object; (b) storing a pointer to the target object in the associated tracker object; (c) inserting the associated tracker object into a data structure in the memory of the computer, so that the target object can be managed in a well-defined manner; and (d) performing a management function on the target object using a member function of the tracker object. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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13. A memory for storing data for tracking objects in an object-oriented programming environment executed by a computer, comprising:
a data structure stored in a memory of the computer, the data structure including; one or more tracker objects, each associated with a target object residing in the memory of the computer, wherein the tracker object is associated with the target object through inheritance of a tracker class that generates the tracker object by a target class that generates the target object, wherein the tracker object stores a pointer to the associated target object, so that the target object can be tracked, so that the target object can be managed in a well-defined manner, and wherein the tracker object includes a method function for performing a management function on the target object.
Specification