Annotations for dynamic dispatch of threads from scripting language code

• US 8,769,491 B1
• Filed: 11/08/2007
• Issued: 07/01/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/08/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The MathWorks, Inc.
• Original Assignee: The MathWorks, Inc.
• Inventors: Bushe, Michael Patrick, Lurie, Roy, Hicklin, Joseph F., Mosterman, Pieter J., Conti, Joe
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong, Don
• Assistant Examiner(s): Aguilera, Todd
• Application Number:
  US11/937,170
• Time in Patent Office: 2,427 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 717/115
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/314 Parallel programming languages G06F8/313 takes precedence

Abstract

Exemplary embodiments provide annotations for dynamic dispatch of threads from scripting language code. Exemplary embodiments may provide scripting language code and execute the code causing examination of at least one annotation associated with a referenced collection of code. Exemplary embodiments may dynamically dispatch a first task to a first thread automatically from the scripting language code at runtime based on the examination of the at least one annotation associated with the referenced collection of code.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions, the instructions comprising:

one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to;

obtain scripting language code that references a collection of code for executing a first task and a second task,

a first portion of the collection of code being associated with a first annotation, of a plurality of annotations, associated with the first task, and

a second portion of the collection of code being associated with a second annotation, of the plurality of annotations, associated with the second task,

select, for each of the first task and the second task, one of a plurality of threads based on the plurality of annotations,

the first annotation specifying a first type of thread to which the first portion of the collection of code should be dispatched, and

the second annotation specifying a second type of thread to which the second portion of the collection of code should be dispatched;

dispatch, based on the first annotation specifying the first type of thread, the first task to a first thread, of the plurality of threads, for executing the first task in a scripting language environment;

dispatch, based on the second annotation specifying the second type of thread, the second task to a second thread, of the plurality of threads, included in a non-scripting language environment,

the first task or the second task not being dispatched to one or more threads, of the plurality of threads, based on a third annotation, of the plurality of annotations,

the third annotation specifying an identity of the one or more threads and indicating that the first task or the second task should not be dispatched to the identified one or more threads; and

cause an execution of the scripting language code,

during the execution of the scripting language code, the first task being executed via the first thread in the scripting language environment and the second task being executed via the second thread in the non-scripting language environment.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, where the collection of code is written in a non-scripting language.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, where the scripting language code is written in a first scripting language and the collection of code is written in a second scripting language that differs from the first scripting language.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, where the first annotation includes information identifying a first priority associated with the first task and the second annotation includes information identifying a second priority associated with the second task;

and

where the one or more instructions to dispatch the first task to the first thread include;

one or more instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to;

determine that the first priority is a higher priority relative to the second priority, and

dispatch the first task to the first thread prior to dispatching the second task to the second thread based on the first priority being the higher priority relative to the second priority.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, where the one or more instructions to dispatch the first task include:

one or more instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to dynamically dispatch the first task to the first thread at runtime based on the first annotation.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, where the one or more instructions to dispatch the first task include:

one or more instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to dynamically dispatch the first task to the first thread in parallel with dispatching the second task to the second thread.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, where the first annotation identifies a first priority of the first task and the second annotation identifies a second priority of the second task, the instructions further comprising:

one or more instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to determine an order associated with dispatching the first task to the first thread and the second task to the second thread based on the first priority of the first task and the second priority of the second task;

where the one or more instructions to dispatch the first task include;

one or more instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to dispatch the first task to the first thread prior to dispatching the second task to the second thread based on the order.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, where the instructions further comprise:

one or more instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to;

provide a user interface for receiving the first annotation and the second annotation; and

receive the first annotation and the second annotation via the user interface.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, where the instructions further comprise:

one or more instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to;

analyze the first portion of the collection of code to determine a task type associated with the first task;

generate, based on the task type, the first annotation; and

associate the first annotation with the first portion of the collection of code.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, where the collection of code includes one or more of:

a package,

a class,

a method, or

a field.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, where the one or more instructions to dispatch the first task include:

one or more instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform annotation algebra based on a plurality of specifications included in the first annotation to dynamically dispatch the first task to the first thread at runtime.

12. A method comprising:

associating a first annotation, of a plurality of annotations, with a first portion of a collection of code and a second annotation, of the plurality of annotations, with a second portion of the collection of code,

the first annotation being associated with a first task associated with an execution of the first portion of the collection of code,

the second annotation being associated with a second task associated with an execution of the second portion of the collection of code, and

associating the first annotation with the first portion of the collection of code and the second annotation with the second portion of the collection of code being performed by a device;

obtain scripting language code that references the collection of code,

obtaining the scripting language code being performed by the device;

selecting, for each of the first task and the second task, one of a plurality of threads based on the plurality of annotations,

selecting the one of the plurality of threads being performed by the device;

determining, based on the first annotation identifying a first type of thread to which the first portion of the collection of code should be dispatched, to dispatch the first task to a first thread, of the plurality of threads, included in a scripting language environment,

determining to dispatch the first task to the first thread being performed by the device;

determining, based on the second annotation identifying a second type of thread to which the second portion of the collection of code should be dispatched, to dispatch the second task to a second thread, of the plurality of threads, included in a non-scripting language environment,

determining to dispatch the second task to the second thread being performed by the device;

dispatching the first task to the first thread and the second task to the second thread,

the first task or the second task not being dispatched to one or more threads, of the plurality of threads, based on a third annotation, of the plurality of annotations,

the third annotation specifying an identity of the one or more threads and indicating that the first task or the second task should not be dispatched to the identified one or more threads, and

dispatching the first task and the second task being performed by the device; and

causing an execution of the scripting language code,

causing the execution of the scripting language code being performed by the device, and

during the execution of the scripting language code, the first task being executed via the first thread in the scripting language environment and the second task being executed via the second thread in the non-scripting language environment.

13. The method of claim 12, where dispatching the first task and the second task includes:

dispatching the first task to the first thread and the second task to the second thread in parallel.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

providing a user interface; and

receiving the first annotation and the second annotation via the user interface.

15. A system comprising:

one or more processors to;

obtain scripting language code that references a collection of code, the collection of code for executing a first task and a second task,

a first portion of the collection of code being associated with a first annotation, of a plurality of annotations, and

a second portion of the collection of code being associated with a second annotation, of the plurality of annotations,

the first annotation identifying a first type of thread to which the first portion of the collection of code is to be dispatched, and

the second annotation identifying a second type of thread to which the second portion of the collection of code is to be dispatched;

select, for each of the first task and the second task, one of the plurality of threads based on the plurality of annotations;

dispatch, based on the first annotation specifying the first type of thread, the first task to a first thread, of the plurality of threads, for executing the first task in a scripting language environment;

dispatch, based on the second annotation specifying the second type of thread, the second task to a second thread, of the plurality of threads, included in a non-scripting language environment,

the first task or the second task not being dispatched to one or more of threads, of the plurality of threads, based on a third annotation, of the plurality of annotations,

the third annotation specifying an identity of the one or more threads and indicating that the first task or the second task should not be dispatched to the identified one or more threads; and

cause an execution of the scripting language code,

during the execution of the scripting language code, the first task being executed via the first thread in the scripting language environment and the second task being executed via the second thread in the non-scripting language environment.

16. The system of claim 15, where the one or more processors are further to:

modify the scripting language code to add a language type corresponding to one or more of the first annotation or the second annotation.

17. The system of claim 15, where, when causing the execution of the scripting language code, the one or more processors are to:

cause the execution of the scripting language code by a software application that is compatible with MATLAB software.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions, the instructions comprising:

one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to;

obtain scripting language code to be executed in a distributed computing environment,

the distributed computing environment including a plurality of computing devices,

the scripting language code referencing a collection of code for executing a first task and a second task,

a first portion of the collection of code being associated with a first annotation, of a plurality of annotations, associated with the first task,

the first annotation identifying a first type of thread to which the first portion of the collection of code is to be dispatched, and

a second portion of the collection of code being associated with a second annotation, of the plurality of annotations, associated with the second task,

the second annotation identifying a second type of thread to which the second portion of the collection of code is to be dispatched;

select, for each of the first task and the second task, one of a plurality of threads based on the plurality of annotations,

dispatch, based on the first annotation identifying the first type of thread, the first task to a first thread, of the plurality of threads, running in a scripting language environment on a first computing device in the plurality of computing devices;

dispatch, based on the second annotation identifying the second type of thread, the second task to a second thread, of the plurality of threads, running in a non-scripting language environment on a second computing device in the plurality of computing devices,

the first task or the second task not being dispatched to one or more of threads, of the plurality of threads, based on a third annotation, of the plurality of annotations,

the third annotation specifying an identity of the one or more threads and indicating that the first task or the second task should not be dispatched to the identified one or more threads; and

cause an execution of the scripting language code,

during the execution of the scripting language code, the first task being executed via the first thread and the second task being executed via the second thread.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, where the first annotation specifies one or more performance parameters corresponding to hardware resources dedicated to processing the first task;

and

where the one or more instructions to dispatch the first thread include;

one or more instructions to dispatch the first task to the first thread further based on the one or more performance parameters.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, where the one or more performance parameters include one or more of:

a memory size parameter,

a disk size parameter,

a throughput parameter,

a network bandwidth parameter, or

a security parameter.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, where the first annotation identifies a user, associated with the first computing device, having access rights to the first task;

and

where the one or more instructions to dispatch the first task include;

one or more instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to dispatch the first task to the first thread further based on the user having access rights to the first task.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, where the first annotation specifies a first priority of the first task and the second annotation specifies a second priority of the second task;

and

where the one or more instructions to dispatch the first task and the second task include;

one or more instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to;

determine an order of dispatching the first task to the first thread and the second task to the second thread based on the first priority of the first task and the second priority of the second task; and

dispatch the first task to the first thread and the second task to the second thread based on the order.

23. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions, the instructions comprising:

one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more computing devices, cause the one or more computing devices to;

obtain a scripting language code that is associated with a collection of code for executing a first task and a second task;

select, for each of the first task and the second task, one of a plurality of threads based on a plurality of annotations included in the collection of code;

dispatch the first task to a first thread, of the plurality of threads, in a scripting language environment based on a first annotation, of the plurality of annotations included in the collection of code, identifying a first type of thread to which the first task should be dispatched;

dispatch the second task to a second thread, of the plurality of threads, in a non-scripting language environment based on a second annotation, of the plurality of annotations included in the collection of code, identifying a second type of thread to which the second task should be dispatched,

the first task or the second task not being dispatched to one or more of threads, of the plurality of threads, based on a third annotation, of the plurality of annotations,

the third annotation specifying an identity of the one or more threads and indicating that the first task or the second task should not be dispatched to the identified one or more threads; and

cause an execution of the scripting language code,

during the execution of the scripting language code, the first task being executed via the first thread in the scripting language environment and the second task being executed via the second thread in the non-scripting language environment.

24. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 23, where the first annotation includes information associated with a threading policy;

and

where the one or more instructions to dispatch the first task to the first thread include;

one or more instructions that, when executed by the one or more computing devices, cause the one or more computing devices to dispatch the first task to the first thread further based on the threading policy.

25. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 23, where the first annotation includes performance information or security information associated with the collection of code;

and

where the one or more instructions to dispatch the first task to the first thread include;

one or more instructions that, when executed by the one or more computing devices, cause the one or more computing devices to dispatch the first task to the first thread further based on the performance information or the security information.