Process for data encapsulation in large scale legacy software

• US 6,578,195 B1
• Filed: 12/29/1999
• Issued: 06/10/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Zaringhalam, Ali R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Morse, Gregory
• Assistant Examiner(s): DAS, CHAMELI
• Application Number:
  US09/474,639
• Time in Patent Office: 1,259 Days
• Field of Search: 717/159, 717/157, 717/165, 717/147, 717/116, 717/140, 717/149, 717/100, 717/167, 717/139, 710/313, 707/1, 707/102, 709/100
• US Class Current: 717/140
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/76 Adapting program code to run in a different environment; Porting

Abstract

A method for data encapsulation in large scale legacy software code comprising the steps of:

(a) generating a symbol table output from the legacy software code;

(b) automatically scanning the symbol table to determine global variables therein; and

(c) replacing the global variables with an object for use in one or more separate object instances.

Claims

1. A method for data encapsulation in large scale legacy software code comprising the steps of:

(a) generating a symbol table output from the legacy software code;

(b) automatically scanning the symbol table to determine global variables therein;

(c) replacing the global variables with an object for use in one or more separate object instances; and

(d) moving each object instance to a separate thread of execution

wherein the encapsulated representation is in the form of an array indexed for real time access when large legacy functions containing references to encapsulated representations are involved, the index of an array is passed as an argument to a function on a stack and the array is stored and retrieved as a private thread data.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the array index is accessed by a call to the operating system.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein step (b) is implemented using a set of scripts that directly manipulate source code.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the scripts are perl scripts.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein scanning is carried out by a browser.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the symbol table output is generated by a compiler.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the browser is Cscope.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein step (b) is implemented using a set of scripts that directly manipulate source code.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the scripts are perl scripts.