Isolation of program translation failures

• US 6,698,011 B1
• Filed: 01/29/1999
• Issued: 02/24/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Frazer, Matthew E., Wolf, Joe H. III, Reinders, James R.
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN BA, HOANG VU A
• Application Number:
  US09/240,165
• Time in Patent Office: 1,852 Days
• Field of Search: 717/4, 717/5, 717/7, 717/8, 717/9, 717/1, 717/2, 717/3, 717/136-137, 717/139, 717/140-143, 717/146-148, 717/124, 717/126, 717/128, 717/130-131, 714/26, 714/38, 714/48, 714/52
• US Class Current: 717/124
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3624 by performing operations on the source code, e.g. via a compiler
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/51 Source to source

Abstract

A method and system of transforming a source code file to obtain a reduced size source code file. In one embodiment, a source code file is translated to obtain a translation error list. The source code file is transformed to obtain a reduced size source code file, which is a test case file that is equivalent to the source code file. In one embodiment, a source code file is translated to obtain a translation error list and a reduced size source code file is automatically translated to obtain a reduced size source code file translation error list. The error lists are compared in order to determine whether the reduced size source code file is an equivalent test case for the source code file.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

translating a source code file having a size and a plurality of bytes to obtain a translation error; and

reducing the size of the source code file by automatically identifying and removing at least one of the plurality of bytes that does not contribute to the translation error to obtain a test case file that is equivalent to the source code file.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein reducing the size of the source code file by automatically identifying and removing at least one of the plurality of bytes that does not contribute to the translation error to obtain a test case file that is equivalent to the source code file comprises:

searching the source code file for at least one of the plurality of bytes that does not contribute to the translation error by using a computer program to execute a binary search of the source code file.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein searching the source code file for at least one of the plurality of bytes that does not contribute to the translation error by using a computer program to execute a binary search of the source code file comprises:

automatically executing the computer program immediately after translating the source code file.

4. A method comprising:

translating a source code file having a size and a plurality of objects to obtain a translation error; and

reducing the size of the source code file by automatically identifying and removing at least one of the plurality of objects that does not contribute to the translation error to obtain a test case file that is equivalent to the source code file.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein reducing the size of the source code file by automatically identifying and removing at least one of the plurality of objects that does not contribute to the translation error to obtain a test case file that is equivalent to the source code file comprises:

searching the source code file for at least one of the plurality of objects that does not contribute to the translation error using a computer program to execute a binary search of the source code file.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein searching the source code file for at least one of the plurality of objects that does not contribute to the translation error using a computer program to execute a binary search of the source code file comprises:

automatically executing the computer program immediately after translating the source code file.

7. A method comprising:

translating a source code file comprising a plurality of bytes to obtain a source code file translation error list;

transforming the source code file to obtain a reduced size source code file;

translating the reduced size source code file to obtain a reduced size source code file translation error list; and

comparing the source code file translation error list to the reduced size source code file translation error list to determine whether the reduced size source code file is a test case that is equivalent to the source code file.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein transforming the source code file to obtain a reduced size source code file comprises:

removing at least one of the plurality of bytes from the source code file automatically.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein transforming the source code file to obtain a reduced size source code file comprises:

identifying at least one of the plurality of bytes as a byte to remove from the source code file; and

removing the byte from the source code file.

10. A method comprising:

translating a source code file comprising a plurality of objects to obtain a source code file translation error list;

transforming the source code file to obtain a reduced size source code file;

translating the reduced size source code file to obtain a reduced size source code file translation error list; and

comparing the source code file translation error list to the reduced size source code file translation error list to determine whether the reduced size source code file is a test case that is equivalent to the source code file.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein transforming the source code file to obtain a reduced size source code file comprises:

removing at least one of the plurality of objects from the source code file automatically.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein transforming the source code file to obtain a reduced size source code file comprises:

identifying at least one of the plurality of objects as an object to remove from the source code file; and

removing the object from the source code file.

13. A method comprising:

translating a source code file comprising a plurality of bytes to obtain a source code file translation error list;

executing a second method comprising;

transforming the source code file to obtain a reduced size source code file;

translating the reduced size source code file to obtain a reduced size source code file translation error list;

comparing the source code file translation error list to the reduced size source code file translation error list to determine whether the reduced size source code file is a test case that is equivalent to the source code file; and

replacing the source code file with the reduced size source code file, if the reduced size source code file is a test case that is equivalent to the source code file; and

repeating the second method until the reduced size source code file reaches a desired size and the reduced size source code file is a test case that is equivalent to the source code file.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein transforming the source code file to obtain a reduced size source code file comprises:

removing at least one of the plurality of bytes from the source code file automatically.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein transforming the source code file to obtain a reduced size source code file comprises:

identifying at least one of the plurality of bytes as a byte to remove from the source code file; and

removing the byte from the source code file.

16. A computer readable medium having computer executable instructions for performing a method comprising:

translating a source code file having a size and a plurality of bytes to obtain a translation error; and

reducing the size of the source code file by removing at least one of the plurality of bytes that does not contribute to the translation error to obtain a test case file that is equivalent to the source code file.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein reducing the size of the source code file by removing at least one of the plurality of bytes that does not contribute to the translation error to obtain a test case file that is equivalent to the source code file comprises:

automatically identifying at least one of the plurality of bytes that does not contribute to the translation error.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein automatically identifying a byte that does not contribute to the translation error comprises:

searching the source code file for at least one of the plurality of bytes that does not contribute to the translation error using a computer program to execute a binary search.

19. A computer readable medium having computer executable instructions for performing a method comprising:

translating a source code file comprising a plurality of objects to obtain a source code file translation error list;

transforming the source code file to obtain a reduced size source code file;

translating the reduced size source code file to obtain a reduced size source code file translation error list; and

comparing the source code file translation error list to the reduced size source code file translation error list to determine whether the reduced size source code file is a test case that is equivalent to the source code file.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 19, wherein transforming the source code file to obtain a reduced size source code file comprises:

removing at least one of the plurality of objects from the source code file automatically.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 19, wherein transforming the source code file to obtain a reduced size source code file:

identifying at least one of the plurality of objects as an object to remove from the source code file; and

removing the object from the source code file.

22. A computer system comprising:

a processor unit;

a transformation process capable of executing on the processor unit, and the transformation process to transform a source code file having a size, a first half, and a second half to a reduced size source code file;

a compiler capable of executing on the processor unit, and the compiler to receive the source code file and to receive the reduced size source code file from the transformation process, to compile the source code file to produce a translation error list and to compile the reduced size source code file to produce a reduced size source code file translation error list; and

a comparison process capable of executing on the processor unit, and the comparison process to receive the translation error list and the reduced size source code file translation error list, to compare the translation error list to the reduced size source code file translation error list to determine whether the reduced size source code file is a test case that is equivalent to the source code file.

23. The computer system of claim 22, wherein the transformation process executes a binary search of the source code file in reducing the size of the source code file.

24. The computer system of claim 23, wherein the binary search processes the second half of the source code file before processing the first half of the source code file.

25. A method comprising:

translating a source code file having a size and a plurality of bytes to obtain a translation error; and

reducing the size of the source code file by automatically identifying and removing at least one of the plurality of bytes that does not contribute to the translation error and is not redundant or useless to obtain a test case file that is equivalent to the source code file.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein reducing the size of the source code file by automatically identifying and removing at least one of the plurality of bytes that does not contribute to the translation error to obtain a test case file that is equivalent to the source code file comprises:

searching the source code file for at least one of the plurality of bytes that does not contribute to the translation error by using a computer program to execute a binary search of the source code file.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein searching the source code file for at least one of the plurality of bytes that does not contribute to the translation error by using a computer program to execute a binary search of the source code file comprises:

automatically executing the computer program immediately after translating the source code file.