Patent · US Expired

Apparatus and method for improved devirtualization of method calls

US6779188B1 · kind B1 · utility

10Cited by
2References
33Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateSep 28, 2000
Grant dateAug 17, 2004
Priority date
Expiry dateJan 5, 2022

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F9/449
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Apparatus and methods are provided for improving devirtualization of method calls. The apparatus and methods reduce the amount of processing time used in performing lookups of methods by limiting such lookups to calls of methods that have been either overridden or overloaded. If a method has not been overridden or overloaded, a branch to the compiled method code is directly taken. If a method has been overridden or overloaded, a lookup routine is executed for looking-up the appropriate method to be invoked on the passed object. The identification of whether to use a lookup routine may be performed in many different ways including providing an extra field in a method block of the method, inserting code into a prolog of the method, and the like.

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