Method and system for transforming legacy software applications into modern object-oriented systems

• US 7,467,375 B2
• Filed: 01/13/2003
• Issued: 12/16/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Computer Associates Think Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Computer Associates Think Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Mahony, John, Tondreau, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhen; Wei Y
• Assistant Examiner(s): Deng; Anna
• Application Number:
  US10/341,132
• Publication Number:
  US 20030226132A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,164 Days
• Field of Search: 717136-137, 717/140, 717/154, 717/157, 717/143, 717/107, 707102-104
• US Class Current: 717/137
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/51 Source to source

Abstract

A system and method for transforming a procedural program having procedural language code into an object-oriented program, comprises scanning the procedural language code and creating a map based on the scanned procedural language code, storing the scanned procedural language code as intermediate code, processing at least a segment of the procedural language code using the map, creating a first data structure using the processed segment, modifying the intermediate code based on the first data structure and

generating an object-oriented program having an object class based on the modified intermediate code.

Claims

1. A method for transforming a procedural program having procedural language code into an object-oriented program, comprising:

scanning the procedural language code of the procedural program to discover one or more components of the procedural program;

creating and storing a map based on the scanned procedural language code and the discovered one or more components of the procedural program;

storing the one or more components of the procedural program as first intermediate code comprising, for each of the one or more components of the procedural program, a corresponding meta-component;

processing at least a segment of the procedural language code for a particular component using the map;

creating a first data structure using the processed segment;

modifying second intermediate code for a target object based on the first data structure; and

generating an object-oriented program having an object class based on the modified second intermediate code for the target object;

wherein the method further comprises;

suspending the step of processing a segment of the procedural language code when a predetermined segment of the procedural language code is detected; and

modifying another intermediate code based on the predetermined segment.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising creating a second data structure based on the procedural language of the procedural language code, wherein the second data structure comprises a hierarchical tree comprising a node identifying a property of a statement of the procedural language of the procedural language code.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein creating the first data structure comprises:

locating a node in the second data structure based on the processed segment;

traversing one or more nodes of the second data structure from the located node to a root node; and

including the contents of the traversed one or more nodes in the first data structure.

4. Software for transforming a procedural program having procedural language code into an object-oriented program, the software being embodied in a computer-readable storage medium and when executed operable to:

scan the procedural language code of the procedural program to discover one or more components of the procedural program;

creating and storing a map based on the scanned procedural language code and the discovered one or more components of the procedural program;

store the one or more components of procedural program as first intermediate code comprising, for each of the one or more components of the procedural program, a corresponding meta-component;

process at least a segment of the procedural language code for a particular component using the map;

create a first data structure using the processed segment;

modify second intermediate code based for a target object on the first data structure; and

generate an object-oriented program having an object class based on the modified second intermediate code for the target object;

wherein the software when executed is further operable to;

suspend processing a segment of the procedural language code when a predetermined segment of the procedural language code is detected; and

modify another intermediate code based on the predetermined segment.

5. The software of claim 4, further operable to create a second data structure based on the procedural language of the procedural language code, wherein the second data structure comprises a hierarchical tree comprising a node identifying a property of a statement of the procedural language of the procedural language code.

6. The software of claim 5, wherein creating the first data structure comprises:

locating a node in the second data structure based on the processed segment;

traversing one or more nodes of the second data structure from the located node to a root node; and

including the contents of the traversed one or more nodes in the first data structure.

7. A method for transforming a procedural program having procedural language code into an object-oriented program, comprising:

scanning the procedural language code of the procedural program to discover one or more components of the procedural program;

creating a map based on the scanned procedural language code and the discovered one or more components of the procedural program;

storing the map and the one or more components as procedural language metadata representations in a repository, each of the one or more components associated with a corresponding portion of the scanned procedural language code;

creating a new set of target metadata containers for transformed representations of each of the one or more components;

processing at least a segment of the procedural language code of the one or more components using the procedural language metadata representations of the one or more components and a grammar representation of the procedural language of the procedural language code to create a first abstract syntax tree based on the processed segment;

populating the target metadata containers based on the first abstract syntax tree; and

generating an object-oriented metadata representation of the original procedural program having an object class based on the first abstract syntax tree;

wherein the method further comprises;

suspending the step of processing a segment of the procedural language code when a predetermined segment of the procedural language code is detected; and

modifying another abstract syntax tree based on the predetermined segment.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising creating a second abstract syntax tree based on the procedural language of the procedural language code, wherein the second abstract syntax tree comprises an abstract syntax tree comprising a node identifying a property of a statement of the procedural language of the procedural language code.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein creating the first abstract syntax tree comprises:

locating a node in the second abstract syntax tree based on the processed segment;

traversing one or more nodes of the second abstract syntax tree from the located node to a root node; and

including the contents of the traversed one or more nodes in the first abstract syntax tree.