Intermediate language support for change resilience

A process of managing changes involving a base class of a software product, the process utilizing at least one device which has at least one logical processor in operable communication with at least one memory, the process comprising the steps in memory of:

• obtaining an initial source code A for a module A, including an initial base class A declared in the initial source code A;
• obtaining a source code B for a module B which includes a dependency on initial base class A;
• generating an initial intermediate language code A by compiling the initial source code A;
• generating an initial intermediate language code B by compiling the source code B;
• preparing an initial executable code A by binding the initial intermediate language code A;
• preparing an initial executable code B by binding the initial intermediate language code B;
• obtaining a revised source code A for a revised base class A in module A which differs from initial base class A in at least one of the following ways:
• a field has been added, a private field has been removed, field order has been rearranged, a virtual method has been added, virtual method order has been rearranged;
• generating a revised intermediate language code A by compiling the revised source code A;
• preparing a revised executable code A by binding the revised intermediate language code A;
• and
• preparing a revised executable code B by rebinding the initial intermediate language code B while referencing the revised intermediate language code A, thus avoiding recompilation of source code B;
• and
• executing revised executable code A with revised executable code B free from any field offset collision and free from any virtual method slot assignment collision during execution of revised base class A.

A system comprising:

• a processor in operable communication with a memory;
• an intermediate language code residing in the memory;
• an executable code also residing in the memory, the intermediate language code and the executable code consistent with a structural correspondence in that each register allocation in the intermediate language code has an identical register allocation in the executable code;
• the intermediate language code and the executable code further consistent with the structural correspondence in at least one of the following ways:
• pseudo instructions in the intermediate language code for accessing objects include symbolic field references which correspond to machine instructions using numeric field offsets in the executable code;
• pseudo instructions in the intermediate language code for calling virtual methods include symbolic slot references which correspond to machine instructions using numeric virtual method table slots in the executable code.