Patent · US Expired

Method for conversion of a variable argument routine to a fixed argument routine

US6009273A · kind A · utility

15Cited by
2References
8Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateOct 21, 1997
Grant dateDec 28, 1999
Priority date
Expiry dateOct 21, 2017

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F9/4484
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A compiler method analyzes a program listing to identify a first set of subroutines therein, each of which accepts a variable number of arguments, converting the first set of subroutines into further sets of subroutines which accept fixed numbers of arguments. The method includes the steps of: locating subroutines in the program listing which accept a variable number of arguments and identifying which thereof comprise a first set of subroutines that can be altered to a form which accepts a fixed number of arguments; for each subroutine identified as part of the first set, determining call sites which pass arguments to each subroutine and determining a number and kind of said arguments to be passed therefrom; partitioning call sites to each subroutine of the first set into one or more groups, each group comprising call sites which pass an identical number and kind of arguments to an associated subroutine of said first set; duplicating each subroutine of said first set into plural second sets of N corresponding subroutines, wherein N is equal to the number of groups associated with the subroutine of the first set, and revising each one of said N corresponding subroutines to receive a…

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.