Dynamically switching statically bound function calls to dynamically bound function calls without recompilation

Patent 5983021 Issued on November 9, 1999. Estimated Expiration Date:

May 27, 2018. Estimated Expiration Date is calculated based on simple USPTO term provisions. It does not account for terminal disclaimers, term adjustments, failure to pay maintenance fees, or other factors which might affect the term of a patent.

Abstract Claims Description Full Text

Patent References

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Inventor

Mitrovic, Srdjan

Assignee

Sun Microsystems

Application

No. 085223 filed on 05/27/1998

US Classes:

717/158, Including instrumentation and profiling707/101, Manipulating data structure (e.g., compression, compaction, compilation)717/166, Using class loader719/331DYNAMIC LINKING, LATE BINDING

Examiners

Primary: Hafiz, Tariq R.
Assistant: Dam, Tuan Q.

Attorney, Agent or Firm

Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, L.L.P.

International Class

G06F 009/45

Abstract

An improved hybrid dynamic-binding system for switching between static binding and dynamic binding of function calls provides static binding for function calls when the function is unambiguous, and when the function becomes ambiguous at runtime, this system switches to dynamic binding, without recompiling the code of the function call, thus improving performance over conventional systems. The system performs this functionality by inserting a placeholder into a statically bound function call so that when the statically bound function call needs to be converted to a dynamically bound function call, the placeholder can be overwritten to perform the conversion without having to recompile the code.