Systems and methods providing lightweight runtime code generation

• US 7,219,329 B2
• Filed: 06/13/2003
• Issued: 05/15/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/13/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Drayton, Peter F., Russi, Dario, Meijer, Erik
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhen; Wei
• Assistant Examiner(s): DENG, ANNA CHEN
• Application Number:
  US10/461,105
• Publication Number:
  US 20040255268A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,432 Days
• Field of Search: 717106-108, 717/136, 717/139, 717/140, 717/146, 717162-166, 717/107, 719/319, 719/331
• US Class Current: 717/106
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/447 Target code generation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45516 Runtime code conversion or optimisation

Abstract

The present invention relates to systems and methods that facilitate dynamic programming language execution in a managed code environment. A runtime code generator is provided within the framework of a managed object environment. The code generator includes a class allocator that reserves one or more method slots for a dynamic method call. A dynamic method builder then employs the method slots to generate an intermediate language stream that forms a method description. The method description is then fed to a Just-In-Tine (JIT) compiler that returns at least one dynamically generated pointer to facilitate execution of the dynamic method call at runtime.

Claims

1. A computer readable medium having computer readable instructions stored thereon for implementing a runtime code generator for a managed object environment, the runtime code generator comprising:

a class allocator that, upon receiving a dynamic method call, reserves one or more method slots in a method table having memory locations for at least one function pointer associated with the dynamic method call; and

a dynamic method builder that creates a method description from an intermediate language stream of metadata tokens and submits the method description to a Just-In-Time compiler that is configured to resolve a value for the at least one function pointer and return the value of the at least one function pointer that maps to the one or more method slots to facilitate execution of the dynamic method call at runtime.

2. The computer readable medium of claim 1, further comprising a user model that is exposed as a set of APIs for interacting with the compiler.

3. The computer readable medium of claim 2, the APIs include at least one of a create instance delegate API, a create static delegate API, and a create function pointer API.

4. The computer readable medium of claim 2, the APIs include a dynamic method builder class that extends a method builder class to create an intermediate language stream that contains dynamically generated metadata tokens.

5. The computer readable medium of claim 1, the dynamic method call relates to a dynamic programming language selected from a group comprising:

X#, ECMAScript, PHP, Perl, Scheme, Ruby, Python, and Smalltalk.

6. The computer readable medium of claim 1, the Just-In-Time compiler being a Virtual Execution System (VES), a Common Language Runtime (CLR), or a Java Virtual Machine.

7. The computer readable medium of claim 1, at least one of the class allocator and the dynamic method builder conform to an “

ECMA Standard”

that defines a Common Language Infrastructure (CLI).

8. The computer readable medium of claim 7, the ECMA standard includes at least five partitions, the partitions including a Partition I:

Architecture, a Partition II;

Metadata Definition and Semantics, a Partition III;

CIL Instruction Set, a Partition IV;

Profiles and Libraries and a Partition V;

Annexes.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 7, the Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) includes at least one of a common type system, a metadata description, a common language specification, and a Virtual Execution System.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 1, further comprising at least one of a class loader, a verifier, and a garbage collector.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 10, further comprising at least one source code compiler that compiles source code into an intermediate language.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 11, further comprising a bytecode verifier that analyzles output from the source code compiler.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 1, the dynamic method builder being a part of at least one application, the at least one application being a staged computation, a marshalling application, a de-marshalling application, a serialization application, a de-serialization application, an object persistence application, and/or an object space application.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 1, further comprising a garbage collector that reclaims the memory allocated to execute the dynamic method call.

15. A system that facilitates dynamic code execution, the system stored on computer-readable media, the system comprising:

means for receiving a dynamic method call and allocating at runtime one or more slots in a method table for storing one or more function pointers associated with execution of the dynamic method call;

means for generating a method description from an intermediate language stream of metadata tokens;

means for submitting the method description to a Just-In-Time compiler;

means for generating at least one value for at least one of the one or more function pointers from the method description by a Just-In-Time compiler; and

means for dynamically mapping the one or more slots in the method table with the at least one value of the one or more function pointers.

16. A method that facilitates dynamic data type processing, comprising:

reserving one or more memory locations in a method table by a class allocator in accordance with a user model upon receiving the dynamic function call;

creating a description for the called dynamic function from an intermediate language stream of metadata tokens;

submitting the description to a Just-In-Time compiler;

automatically generating a function pointer f6r the dynamic function by a Just-In-Time compiler, the function pointer relating to an address of the dynamic function description; and

dynamically mapping the generated function pointer into the reserved memory locations in the method table.

17. The method of claim 16, the user model includes at least one of a create instance delegate, a create static delegate, and a create function pointer interface.

18. The method of claim 16, the user model includes a dynamic method builder class that creates the intermediate language stream that contains the metadata tokens.

19. The method of claim 18, the dynamic method builder class relating to at least one application including a staged computation application, a marshalling application, a de-marshalling application, a serialization application, a de-serialization application, an object persistence application, and/or an object space application.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising automatically garbage collecting dynamically generated code.

21. The method of claim 16, further comprising providing one or more security procedures to facilitate operations of the dynamic function, the security procedures includes at least one of:

Instantiating a DynamicMethod resulting in a demand for ReflectionPermission(ReflectionPermissionFlag.ReflectionEmit);

Instantiating a DynamicMethod where a user desirea to bypass JIT visibility checks (by specifying skipVisibility=true) resulting in a demand for ReflectionPermission(ReflectionPermissionFlag.MemberAccess);

Instantiating a DynamicMethod where a caller lives in a different assembly than another assembly a new method is emitted to, resulting in a demand for SecurityPermission(SecurityPermissionFlag.ControlEvidence).