US 2011/0258594 A1 · ASYNCHRONOUS WORKFLOWS

Abstract

A system and method for implementing an asynchronous construct in a computer program. A state machine is generated from the computer program, and the program is translated to generate code that executes the state machine during runtime. The asynchronous construct may be made into a function that invokes an asynchronous function, passing the function as a callback, and then exits. When the asynchronous operation completes, the function is invoked as a callback, returning to a configuration equivalent to that prior to the asynchronous call. Variable closure may be used to maintain the state of variables during a state prior to invoking the asynchronous operation and a state after invoking the asynchronous operation.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A computer-based method of translating a target computer program to a target program executable code that includes program instructions to perform an asynchronous operation, comprising:

a) determining a code fragment that includes an instruction for invoking the asynchronous operation;
b) generating a representation of a state machine based on the code fragment and the instruction for invoking the asynchronous operation, the state machine having a first state corresponding to a first portion of the code fragment containing the instruction for invoking the asynchronous operation, and a second state corresponding to a second portion of the code fragment that is to be executed after the asynchronous operation completes;
c) generating executable program code for implementing the state machine at a runtime of the target computer program.

A computer-based system for translating a target computer program to a target program executable code that includes program instructions to perform an asynchronous operation, the system comprising:

a) a parser that identifies asynchronous constructs in the target computer program;
b) a translator component configured to perform actions including generating a representation of a state machine based on the asynchronous construct, the state machine having a first state corresponding to an asynchronous operation and a second state corresponding to a portion of the target computer program that is to be executed after the asynchronous operation completes;
and
c) a code generation component configured to generate executable program code that implements the state machine, the executable program code performing actions including:
i. in the first state, invoking the asynchronous operation from a thread, the first state having a corresponding runtime stack configuration;
ii. after invoking the asynchronous operation, releasing the thread;
iii. after the asynchronous operation completes, executing program code in the second state, the second state having a corresponding runtime stack frame equivalent to the runtime stack frame corresponding to the first state;
and
iv. generating a variable closure structure that enables local variables to be accessed during execution of the program code in the first state or the second state.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Asynchronous workflows

Life of this patent

Asynchronous workflows

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20