On-demand loading of types of software code of a program executing on a computing device

• US 8,127,284 B2
• Filed: 10/16/2007
• Issued: 02/28/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Meijer, Henricus Johannes Maria, Gogh, Jeffrey Van
• Primary Examiner(s): Vo, Ted T
• Application Number:
  US11/974,816
• Publication Number:
  US 20090125919A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,596 Days
• Field of Search: 717162-167, 717171-173, 717176-178
• US Class Current: 717/166
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44521 Dynamic linking or loading; Link editing at or after load time, e.g. Java class loading

Abstract

A first computing device receives (over a network) from at least a second computing device a container that includes information relating to types of software code that are potentially invoked by a program executing on the first computing device. A determination is made according to an on-demand basis, during execution of the program, whether a particular type of software code is to be loaded from the at least second computing device to the first computing device.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented process comprising:

receiving, by a first computing device over a network from at least a second computing device, a container that includes information relating to types of software code that are potentially invoked by a program executing on the first computing device;

during execution of the program, determining, according to an on-demand basis, a particular type of software code that is to be loaded from the at least second computing device to the first computing device, wherein the determining includes determining that the particular type of software code has been invoked by the program and that the particular type of software code is not loaded in the first computing device;

transmitting, from the first computing device to the second computing device, a request for the particular type of software code; and

filling the container with information relating to the particular type of software code in response to the particular type of software code being loaded into the first computing device.

2. The process of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving at least another container from the at least second computing device over the network, wherein the at least another container includes information relating to further types of software code that are potentially invoked by the program; and

determining additional types of software code that are to be loaded for the at least another container.

3. The process of claim 2, wherein receiving the containers comprises receiving placeholders of assemblies compiled from corresponding assemblies by the at least second computing device.

4. The process of claim 1, wherein the particular type is a set of software methods, the process further comprising loading the particular type by loading the set of software methods.

5. The process of claim 1, further comprising adding further content to the container as other types of software code are loaded in the first computing device.

6. The process of claim 1, further comprising receiving, by the first computing device from the second computing device, at least one additional type of software code in addition to the particular type, wherein the at least one additional type of software code is received in response to the request for the particular type of software code.

7. The process of claim 1, further comprising retrieving, in the first computing device, unique identifiers of types of software code loaded into the first computing device.

8. The process of claim 7, further comprising creating the unique identifiers for the types that are loaded at runtime of the program without having to load the types.

9. The process of claim 1, wherein the types of software code are part of plural assemblies, the process further comprising:

uniquely identifying fields and methods in each assembly to enable cross-assembly access of the fields and methods.

10. The process of claim 1, further comprising:

providing plural methods of a same name but having different signatures.

11. The process of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a transport mechanism in the first computing device to plug in the first computing device for loading types of software code from the at least second computing device.

12. The process of claim 1, wherein loading of the types into the first computing device is transparent to the program.

13. The process of claim 1, further comprising storing instances of types in a cache such that the type instances yield same corresponding identifiers each time the instances are called.

14. The process of claim 1, further comprising providing a virtual table to map references of methods associated with the types to definitions of the methods.

15. An article comprising at least one computer-readable storage medium containing instructions that when executed cause a first computing device to provide at least one application programming interface (API), the at least one API comprising:

a first API routine invocable by a program executing in the first computing device to cause loading of a container from a second computing device over a network, the container containing information relating to types of software code; and

a second API routine invocable by the program to cause loading of at least some of the types of software code according to an on-demand basis from the second computing device over a network.

16. The article of claim 15, wherein the API further comprises a third API routine to detect a pluggable transport mechanism to use to load the container and the at least some of the types of software code.

17. The article of claim 15, wherein the API further comprise a third API routine to obtain unique identifiers of the at least some loaded types.

18. A first computer comprising:

a network interface for communication over a network with at least a second computer;

a processor;

a program executable on the processor; and

a loading system executable on the processor to;

during execution of the program, load at least one container from the at least second computer into the first computer, wherein the at least one container contains initially empty data structures representing types of software code;

load at least some of the types of software code into the first computer according to an on-demand basis during execution of the program; and

update the initially empty data structures of the container in response to loading the at least some of the types of software code.

19. The first computer of claim 18, wherein the at least one container comprises a placeholder of an assembly compiled by the at least second computer from the assembly.

20. The first computer of claim 18, further comprising an application programming interface (API) including a first API routine invocable by the program to cause loading of the at least one container, and a second API invocable by the program to cause loading of the at least some types of the software code.