Heavyweight and lightweight instrumentation

• US 6,988,271 B2
• Filed: 07/16/2001
• Issued: 01/17/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Hunt, Galen C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lao, Sue
• Application Number:
  US09/906,876
• Publication Number:
  US 20020032804A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,646 Days
• Field of Search: 719/315, 719/316, 719/331, 717/130, 717/131, 717/124, 717/158, 717/151, 717/162, 707/2, 707/4
• US Class Current: 719/315
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3612 by runtime analysis performance monitoring G06F11/3466
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/443 Optimisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44521 Dynamic linking or loading; Link editing at or after load time, e.g. Java class loading
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44536 Selecting among different versions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/449 Object-oriented method invocation or resolution
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/465 Distributed object oriented systems remote method invocation [RMI] G06F9/548
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5066 Algorithms for mapping a plurality of inter-dependent sub-tasks onto a plurality of physical CPUs mappping at compile time, see G06F8/451
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0233 Object-oriented techniques, for representation of network management data, e.g. common object request broker architecture [CORBA]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46

Abstract

An instrumentation system performs operations such as profiling an application and partitioning and distributing units of the application using different versions of metadata describing the application. Performing an operation on an executing application generates overhead. Detailed metadata used in operations such as profiling create unnecessary overhead during other operations. By removing metadata detail unnecessary for a particular operation, an instrumentation system using reduced metadata generates less overhead for that particular operation. Different instrumentation packages include different versions of metadata for performing operations on the application.

Claims

1. A computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions for causing a computer programmed thereby to perform a method of processing metadata, the method comprising:

receiving metadata, the metadata describing structure of software, wherein the metadata is for use in a first operation involving the software, wherein the metadata comprises plural marshaling byte codes for the software, the plural marshaling byte codes derived from marshaling code for the software, and wherein the first operation has computational overhead; and

reducing the metadata, wherein the reduced metadata is for use in a second operation involving the software, whereby the second operation has less computational overhead than the first operation.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the software comprises an application, wherein the first operation comprises profiling the application, and wherein the second operation comprises distributing plural components of the application in a distributed computing environment.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the metadata further comprises interface definition language description of the software.

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the metadata further comprises one or more type libraries for the software.

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the structure defines communication between components within the software, and wherein the reducing comprises eliminating description having any one of one or more types from the metadata.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 5 wherein the reducing further comprises, after the eliminating, compressing remaining metadata.

7. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the metadata includes interface description and method parameter description, and wherein the reducing comprises eliminating the method parameter description.

8. The computer-readable medium of claim 7 wherein following the eliminating, remaining metadata includes description for identifying interfaces of software components.

9. In a computer system, a method of processing metadata to remove an unnecessary portion, the method comprising:

acquiring metadata that includes structural description of communication within software, the metadata being for use in a first operation involving the software, wherein the metadata comprises plural marshaling byte codes for the software; and

winnowing the metadata, the winnowed metadata being for use in a second operation involving the software, wherein the winnowing comprises eliminating one or more portions of structural description from the metadata, the eliminated portions for use in the first operation but not the second operation.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the metadata further comprises interface definition language description of the software.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the metadata further comprises one or more type libraries for the software.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein a precompiler performs the acquiring and the winnowing.

13. The method of claim 9 wherein the eliminated portions include structural description indicating parameter sizes for interface methods in the software.

14. The method of claim 9 wherein following the eliminating, remaining metadata includes structural description indicating interface pointers in the software.

15. The method of claim 9 wherein further comprising, after the eliminating, compressing remaining metadata.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the compressing comprises applying dead-code elimination and constant folding to the metadata.