System and method for dynamic class management

A system for managing classes, the system comprising:

• a deployment platform including a processor coupled to memory;
• a local storage device for storing one or more first class files;
• and
• a virtual machine being executed by the processor;
• wherein:
• the virtual machine includes a class loader, a heap scanner, a pruner, a heap, an application class graph (ACG), and an object table;
• the virtual machine starts a skeleton application by loading a main class of the skeleton application into the memory and executing the main class;
• the class loader detects a request for a requested class made by a referencing class, loads a class file associated with the requested class from the local storage device when the class file is stored on the local storage device and the requested class is not loaded in the memory, loads the class file from a class storage unit when the class file is not stored on the local storage device and the requested class is not loaded in the memory, updates the application class graph (ACG) to record a dependency of the referencing class on the requested class, and updates the object table when the request is associated with creation of an object of the requested class;
• the heap scanner selects a first object from the heap, determines a first class of the selected object, determines a first referencing class of the selected object using the object table and an object identifier associated with the selected object, and updates a first timestamp marking a directed dependency edge in the ACG from a class node corresponding to the first referencing class to the class node corresponding to the first class based on a current timestamp;
• and
• the pruner detects a pruning event, determines a ranking for each class with a corresponding class node in the ACG, determines one or more second classes to prune based on the determined ranking, and deletes one or more class nodes corresponding to the one or more first classes and one or more directed dependency edges associated with the one or more first classes from the ACG.

A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising a first plurality of machine-readable instructions which when executed by one or more processors associated with one or more computing systems are adapted to cause the one or more processors to perform a method comprising:

• beginning execution of a limited application by loading a main module of the limited application and executing a main function;
• detecting a call made by a first module to execute a portion of a second module;
• retrieving the second module from local storage and storing the second module in memory when the second module is found in the local storage and the second module is not stored in the memory;
• retrieving the second module from a module server and storing the second module in the memory when the second module is not found in the local storage and the second module is not stored in the memory;
• updating a module interrelationship structure to track a reliance of the first module on the second module;
• and
• updating an instance list when an instance of a type defined in the second module is instantiated by the first module.