JPH04191934A - Method and device for managing functional program - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten processing time by omitting the load of a program unit from an external storage device when the function of a program resident in a resident area is selected. CONSTITUTION:A resident area 3004 to store the program unit of two functions at least in a main storage device 101 is secured, the program unit is loaded to the area of the main storage device 101 from an external storage device 102 every time when the respective functions are called and updates information related to the using frequency of the function every time when the respective functions are called. Then, the program unit with the high using frequency is made resident in the resident area 3004 based on the information related to the using frequency of the respective functions and the load of the program unit from the external storage device 102 is omitted when the function of the program resident in the resident area 3004 is selected. Thus, the number of times of disk access for function using is reduced and processing time is shortened by making the function with the high using frequency resident on the main storage device 101.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention has a plurality of functions that operate on a computer, and sequentially selects necessary program units from among a plurality of program units prepared for each function. The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for managing programs by function that are loaded into a main storage device.

[Prior Art] A conventional functional program management method will be described with reference to FIGS. 2, 3, and 4.

First, FIG. 3 shows a memory map of the main storage device (memory) and the external storage device (floppy disk drive).

The memory includes a system area 3001 in which system programs and the like are stored, a coat part 30o2 in which the main body of the application software program is stored, and a data part 300 in which the data of the application software is stored.
3. Load area 3 where each functional program unit of the application software program is selectively stored.
004, and a user area 3005 in which documents and the like created by the user are stored. The floppy disk stores program units of functions 1 to 7 in storage areas (overlay areas) 3006 to 3o12, respectively. Note that each program unit is a program execution unit, and its capacity is not constant.

As shown in FIG. 4, each time a specific function of the application software being executed is required, the program unit of the function is transferred from the floppy disk to the load area 300.
Loaded into 4.

A specific processing flow for this purpose is shown in FIG.

After starting the application software (201),
When the application software ends (202)
, performs termination processing (207).

When a function is selected on the application software (203), the function is stored in the overlay portions 3006 to 3012 in the floppy disk drive, or in the code portion 3002 on the internal main storage, in this case memory. Check whether it is loaded in (2)
04) If the file is on a floppy disk, the file for the corresponding function is searched from the disk, read into the memory load area 3004 (205), and the function is executed (206). If the function is in the code section 3002 of the memory, execute the function as is (
206).

[Problem to be solved by the invention] With the above conventional technology, it is easy to increase the program size and increase the number of functions, but the functions selected on the application are stored in the overlay part of the floppy disk. If the function was selected, it would have to be loaded from the floppy disk into the load area each time the function was selected. In other words, each time a function is selected, access to the external storage device, which takes a relatively long time, must be performed frequently, so it takes time from the time the function is selected until it is executed, which hinders processing. did.

Furthermore, as programs become larger and more functional, there has been no technology that takes into consideration automatic setting of which part of a program should be overlaid for efficient use.

An object of the present invention is to provide a function-based program management method and apparatus that can shorten the time from when a function is selected until it is executed.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the function-specific program management method according to the present invention stores necessary program units among a plurality of function-specific program units running on a computer in the main memory. A function-specific program management method for loading and using, wherein a resident area capable of storing program units of at least two functions is secured in the main memory, and each time each function is called, the program units are transferred to an external storage. Each time each function is called, information regarding the usage frequency of each function is updated, and based on the information regarding the usage frequency of each function, frequently used program units are loaded into the resident area. When a function of a program resident in the resident area is selected, loading of a program unit from the external storage device is omitted.

From another point of view, the functional program management method according to the present invention is a functional program management method that uses necessary program units among a plurality of functional program units running on a computer by loading them into the main storage device. And,
A resident area capable of storing program units of at least two functions is secured in the main storage device, and each time each function is called, the program unit is loaded from the external storage device to an area of the main storage device, and each function is loaded into an area of the main storage device. The information regarding the frequency of use of the function is updated each time the function is called, and when a new function is called, if there is no free space in the resident area that can store the program unit of the function, the information regarding the frequency of use of the function is updated. Based on this, among the program units of functions that are currently resident, the program units of functions that are used less frequently are released from residency.

A functional program management device according to the present invention includes an arithmetic processing device, an external storage device that stores a plurality of functional program units executed by the arithmetic processing device, and a resident storage device that stores a part of the plurality of program units. A main storage device having a storage area, and a function registration management means for registering information regarding the frequency of use of each function and updating the registered contents each time the function is called, and the frequency of use of the functions registered in the function registration management means. The program unit of the function to be resident in the resident area is determined according to the resident area.

In the method and apparatus, the information regarding the usage frequency includes the number of times the program unit has been called, or instead of or in addition to the number of times the program unit has been called, whether the program unit has been called most recently or not. This information is taken into account.

Information regarding the frequency of use, which takes into account the information as to whether the amount has been called recently or not, is, for example, an index given to a function that has been called a predetermined number of times or more; It increases each time, and decreases each time another function that is called a certain number of times or more is called.

Further, the information regarding the frequency of use may further include the latest serial number of the order in which each function was called.

The information regarding the frequency of use may further include attribute information indicating whether a program for each function is currently stored in the resident area. This attribute information may include resident lock information indicating that the program of the function should always be stored in the resident area.

[For production] In the functional program management method according to the present invention.

By updating information regarding the frequency of use of a function each time the function is used, the frequency of use can be accurately grasped. Therefore, by making frequently used functions resident on the main storage device, the number of disk accesses for using the functions can be reduced, and processing time can be shortened.

Since the unit for resident is a functional unit,
Unlike page units, segment units, etc. in the virtual storage system, it does not include two extra units, and only program units related to the function are resident, so the resident area on the memory is saved.

In addition, the user can freely select resident program units.

[Example] Examples of the present invention will be described in detail below.

FIG. 5 shows the configuration of a computer system to which the present invention is applied. This system includes a main storage device 101, an external storage device 02, an arithmetic processing unit 103, and an input device 104.
, and a display bag τ1-05. An example of application software running on this computer system will be explained below.

FIG. 1 shows a flowchart of a functional program management method according to the present invention. The shaded area in the figure, which corresponds to 5010, is the part added to the conventional flow of FIG. 2. The flow is the same as in Figure 2 except for the additional parts, so
The explanation will focus on the additional parts. The memory map of the main memory is similar to that shown in Figure 3, but the load area 3
004 corresponds to the resident area of the present invention, and its size is large enough to store programs for at least two functions.9 In this embodiment, the program portion that should be made resident automatically while the application program is in use is determined. Ru.

In step 204 of FIG. 1, if the selected function is stored in the overlay part, it is determined whether the function is already resident in the memory (5005
). If the function is resident, the function is not loaded from disk and the function is executed in step 206.
Move to. If the function is not resident, it is checked whether there is a free area in the resident area where the program can be read (5011). If there is a free area, read (load) the relevant function from the disk into that area (20
5). If there is no free area, it is necessary to select from among the currently resident functions to cancel the resident function. To do so, refer to the function registration table (501
,2),Determine the function to be de-resident. Next, a new function is loaded from the disk into the area of the function whose resident status has been canceled (205). After "function execution" in step 206, the executed function is registered (including updated) in the function registration table (5008).

Return to step 202. Note that the registration processing in step 5008 is not limited to this point, and may be performed before the function execution in step 206.

FIG. 6 shows an example of the structure of the function registration table. This function registration table manages the following items for each function. That is, for each function name 601, the number of calls 602,
Number of adjustments 603, call sequential 604, attributes 605
is stored. The number of calls 602 indicates the total number of times the function has been called since the application software was started. Adjustment number 603 is valid only for functions whose total number of calls exceeds the specified number of times, and as a general rule, +1 is added each time the own function is called, and when another function (which does not need to exceed the fixed number of calls) is called. Perform -1 each time.

Due to the stiffness, we are making adjustments to select the functions that will be permanently resident, taking into account whether or not the functions have been used recently. The prescribed number of times can be specified by the user or the like. Here, it is assumed to be three times as an example. The call sequential 604 assigns a consistent call number 1 to all five functions each time the function is called, and stores the latest number for that function. The attribute 606 is the attribute of the function, and 1" is assigned to a function that is currently being stored in memory, and 1" is assigned to a function that is stored on a floppy disk. In addition, rFunc, 4j
The value of the attribute II I ++ shown in the diagram will be described later. The function registration table can be configured on memory. If this table is saved in an external storage device when the application software is terminated, its contents can be used next time.

Next, how to create a function registration table will be explained using FIGS. 7 to 10.

This table is registered only when the function is used. First, functions are selected by the user while using the application software.

Then, the function name 601 (or function number) of that function is registered. The number of times the function is called 602 is unconditionally incremented by 1 as shown in FIG. The adjustment number 603 is determined and stored according to the procedure shown in FIG. That is, it is checked whether the number of calls 602 of the currently called function is equal to or greater than a predetermined number (three times in this example) (801). If it is 3 or more times, add 1 to the number of adjustments 603 for the function (802)
.

If it is less than three times, step 802 is omitted and the process moves to step 803. In step 803, searches for functions other than the function called this time that have a numerical value (1 or more) stored in the adjustment number 603 (803), and if they exist, -1 is subtracted from the adjustment number of those functions. conduct. This number of adjustments is 6
03 is used as an index to determine on which function the new function should be loaded when another new function is selected while all the resident areas on the memory are in use.

As for the call sequential number 604, as shown in FIG. 9, each time a function is selected, the newest sequential number up to that point is unconditionally incremented by one (901).

Finally, regarding the attribute 605, 1''' is currently stored in the attribute of the function loaded in memory, and 0'' is stored in the attribute of the function that exists only on the floppy disk. ing.

That is, as shown in FIG. 10, when a function is called, the attribute 605 of the function is
01), checks whether it has been loaded from a floppy disk (1.002). If it is not from the floppy disk, this process is terminated, and if it is from the floppy disk, it is checked whether there is a function that has been deleted from the memory (that is, the resident status has been canceled) (1003). If not, terminate the process, and if there is, change the attributes of the deleted function.
The value is returned to "o" (1004), and the process ends.

In the manner described above, the function registration table is created and updated.

Next, step 5011.5 after it is determined that the memory is not resident in memory in step 5005 of FIG.
The detailed flow of step 012 will be explained in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, the unused load area (free area) in the resident area of memory and the size (capacity) of the function to be loaded.
(1107). If the free area can accommodate the size of the function in question (1108), the free area is loaded preferentially. If there is not enough area to load, refer to the 1 function registration table and check if the attribute is i.
Among the functions of t ly+ (residing in memory) with the smallest number of adjustments, the one with the smallest number of calls is searched (1102). If there are two or more (1103), find the oldest one in the calling sequence 11.04. )
, delete it from the memory, fill in the empty areas one by one (1109), set the load position in the new empty area (205a), and perform loading (205b). This last step 205a and 205b corresponds to step 205 in FIG. Even after executing step 1109, if there is still insufficient free space, the above steps are repeated to secure a readable memory area and perform loading.

By performing the above processing every time a function is selected by the application program, the time required for disk access can be shortened.

Next, as a second embodiment, setting of a resident function by user specification will be described with reference to FIG.

For example, when the user inputs a key for resident registration (1201), the attribute 605 in the function registration table
1C"-1" is stored (1202), and its function is loaded onto memory (1203).

This causes the function to be permanently locked.

That is, it is guaranteed that the resident-locked function will not be selected for deletion in the process shown in FIG. 11 described above when there is insufficient free space. This resident lock will not be released unless the user specifies that the resident lock be released. Although not particularly illustrated, the process of canceling resident status can be performed using a flow similar to that shown in FIG. 12.

In the tenth embodiments, examples have been shown in which the method of the present invention is applied to application software, but as a third embodiment, the method of the present invention is incorporated into the operating system, not on the application, so that the commands of the operating system can be applied. It is also possible to automatically create a function registration table each time you run the command, and to have frequently used command programs resident therein. This makes it possible to perform high-speed processing by reducing the disk access time in the operating system.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, the number of times the external storage device is accessed each time a function is called is reduced, so that processing time can be significantly shortened. It will also greatly reduce the recovery time if a different function is selected due to a wrong key operation.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of the process of the functional program management method of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the process of the conventional functional program management method, and FIG. 3 is the main storage device and external storage device in the prior art and the present invention. 4 is an explanatory diagram of conventional processing, FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a computer system to which the present invention is applied, FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a function registration table used in the present invention, and FIGS.
Figure] O is a flowchart showing how to register each item in the function registration management table of Figure 6, Figure 11 is a flowchart of detailed processing of the main part of Figure 1, and Figure 12 is a flowchart showing how to register each item in the function registration management table of Figure 6. 2 is a flowchart for explaining an embodiment of the present invention. 101... Main storage device, 102... External storage device, 1
03 - Arithmetic processing unit, 104 - Input device, 105...
Display device, 3001...system area. 3002・Court Department, 3o○3・Data Department, 300
4. Load area (resident area), 3005... User section, 3006-30] 2... Program for each function. Applicant Hitachi Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Representative Patent Attorney Tomi 1) Kazuko Figure 2, Figure 3v! J Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 Function registration table Figure 7 Figure 8 Figure 9 Figure 10 σK D 1.001 0 sentence D Figure 11 Figure 12

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A function-based program management method for loading necessary program units among a plurality of function-based program units running on a computer into a main storage device, wherein the main storage device includes at least the following steps: A resident area that can store the program units of the two functions is secured, and each time each function is called, the relevant program unit is loaded from the external storage device to the area of the main storage device. Update information regarding the frequency of use of the functions, make frequently used program units reside in the resident area based on the information regarding the frequency of use of each function, and select the functions of the programs resident in the resident area. In the present invention, there is provided a function-based program management method, characterized in that loading a program unit from the external storage device is omitted. 2. A function-specific program management method that uses necessary program units among a plurality of function-specific program units running on a computer by loading them into a main memory, the program units of at least two functions being loaded into the main memory. Each time each function is called, the program unit is loaded from the external storage device to the area of the main storage device, and each time each function is called, information regarding the usage frequency of the function is loaded. and, when calling a new function, if there is no free space in the resident area that can store the program unit of the function, the program unit of the function that is currently resident is updated based on information regarding the frequency of use of the function. A function-based program management method characterized by canceling the residency of infrequently used functions in program units. 3. The functional program management method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the information regarding the frequency of use is the number of times the program unit has been called. 4. The function according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the information regarding the frequency of use includes information as to whether or not the program unit has been called most recently, with respect to the number of times the program unit has been called. Alternative program management methods. 5. The information on the frequency of use, which takes into account the information on whether the function was called most recently, is an index given to a function that has been called a predetermined number of times or more, and the index increases each time the function is called. 5. The function-based program management method according to claim 4, wherein the number decreases each time another function that has been called a predetermined number of times or more is called. 6. an arithmetic processing device; an external storage device that stores a plurality of program units for each function to be executed by the arithmetic processing device; and a main storage device that has a resident area that stores a part of the plurality of program units; and a function registration management means for registering information regarding the frequency of use of each function and updating the registered contents each time the function is called, and the function registration management means is provided with a function registration management means for registering information regarding the frequency of use of each function, and a function registered in the function registration management means that resides in the resident area according to the frequency of use of the function. A functional program management device characterized by determining a program unit of a function to be performed. 7. The functional program management device according to claim 6, wherein the information regarding the frequency of use is the number of times the program unit has been called. 8. The information regarding the frequency of use is an index given to a function that has been called a predetermined number of times or more, and the index increases each time the function is called and decreases each time another function is called. The functional program management device according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that: 9. The functional program management device according to claim 6, 7 or 8, wherein the information regarding the usage frequency further includes the latest serial number of the order in which each function was called. 10. Functional program management according to claim 7, 8 or 9, wherein the information regarding the usage frequency further includes attribute information indicating whether or not the program of each function is currently stored in the resident area. Device. 11. The functional program management device according to claim 10, wherein the attribute information includes resident lock information indicating that the program of the function should always be stored in the resident area.