JPH05134857A - System for automatically generating program extending over plural computers - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve productivity for system development by deciding the computer to be executed concerning each processing unit designated by a work specification, and generating the processing of communication between computers. CONSTITUTION:Based on the result analyzed by a syntax analysis part 3, an automatic work division processing part 4 decides the computer to be executed for each processing unit of a work specification 1 according to conditions. According to the information of the communication process previously registered as information 7 of the executing computer for each computer, a communication processing 5 generates the program to execute the communication processing between the processing units executed at the different executing computers. Based on the information 7 of the executing computer, a divided program optimization processing part 6 decides the executing computer for each processing unit so as to optimize the program. Further, a program generation part 8 generates the program for each executing computer together with a communication processing program by transforming the program into a form to be executed at the executing computer respectively decided in the automatic work division processing 4 or the optimization processing part 6 for each processing unit.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to unification of business specifications of software executed across a plurality of computers and automatic generation of a program, and is specified by communicating between a plurality of computers. Technology that is effective in improving the productivity of programs that carry out the tasks of

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a method of developing a program that spans a plurality of computers is that a program for each computer is created separately for each computer, and communication between computers is defined by the hardware / software specifications of each computer. Had to describe according to. For this reason, since a series of business processes are managed over a plurality of computers as a plurality of programs for each executing computer, the management and maintenance of the programs becomes complicated. Since it is necessary to decide in advance how to divide the roles of each computer into a series of business processes before creating a program, if an interface failure occurs when linking these programs, or in terms of computer processing performance. If the role assignment among the execution computers changes due to a problem or a change in the computer configuration, it is necessary to redesign the interface and program. Further, the program of each computer needs to be developed in consideration of the hardware / software specifications of each executing computer, which leads to the decentralization of human resources of the programmer and hinders its effective use. Therefore, there is a problem that it becomes a major obstacle to improving the productivity of system development.

[0003]

In the above-mentioned conventional technique, a program must be created for each computer, which increases the number of programs and complicates management. In addition, there is a factor that hinders the improvement in system development productivity, such as the need to develop a program according to the specifications of the execution computer and the need to be aware of the communication procedure between the execution computers.

The object of the present invention is to improve the efficiency of software development and simplify the management of tasks executed over a plurality of computers, save the interface description between programs, and optimize the load according to the characteristics of each computer. It is a flexible response to changes in distribution automation, communication procedures, and operating computer configurations, and is aimed at improving productivity in system development.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the automatic program generation method of the present invention introduces the following method.

(1) Automatic business division processing A fourth generation language (eg, EAG) specialized for business processing
In LE / 4GL, etc., business processing is patterned. In such a language, processing units such as screen input check processing and output screen editing processing are prepared in the pattern. The processing of allocating the execution computer for each processing unit is performed by the fourth generation language compiler. The specification of the condition for selecting the execution computer is (a) fixed according to the processing pattern; (b) described by the user in the business specification that is input to the fourth generation language compiler;
(C) It is performed by a method such as specifying with a parameter given to the fourth generation language compiler.

For example, data access-related processing is assigned to a computer that stores data entities, and user interface-related processing such as screen input check is assigned to a computer operated by an operator.

(2) Automatic generation of communication processing between different execution computers The interface between the patterned and divided processing units is almost fixed, and based on the communication procedure between the execution computers registered in advance. Then, the fourth generation language compiler automatically generates a communication process between different execution computers.

(3) Optimization Rather than explicitly specifying the condition for selecting an execution computer as described in (1), the available execution computers and their characteristics (performance, presence / absence of data, user interface) It can be processed in parallel with other processing units (data access processing, user interface processing, etc.) and the characteristics of communication between execution computers (performance, communication path width, etc.) and the characteristics of processing units. Whether or not), the fourth generation language compiler allocates the execution computers so that the optimum execution computers are allocated.

Minimize the response to the user,
Minimize the amount of data transfer, minimize the CPU load,
Alternatively, a criterion of what is optimal, such as minimizing the weighted index of these indexes, is given as a parameter to the fourth-generation language compiler.

[0011]

In general, the business specification can be expressed as a combination of a plurality of processing units that are standardized and patterned in advance, so that an optimum execution computer can be assigned to each such processing unit. Further, for those in which communication between computers is performed between processing units, a communication processing program can be generated based on a registered communication procedure or a pattern of a transmission data format. By converting each processing unit into a program according to the execution computer and adding a communication processing program, the entire business program that spans multiple computers can be generated.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the procedure of the automatic program generation method of this embodiment. The business specification 1 is first input by the specification input unit 2. The syntax analysis unit 3 analyzes the input business specification 1 and identifies the processing unit of the business specification. In the automatic work division processing 4, based on the result of analysis by the syntax analysis unit 3, which execution computer is to be executed for each processing unit of the work specification 1 is determined according to conditions. In the communication process generation 5, according to the information of the communication procedure for each computer registered in advance as the information 7 of the execution computer, a program for performing the communication process between the processing units executed by different execution computers is generated. In the optimization process 6 of the division program, the execution computer of each processing unit is determined to be optimum based on the information 7 of the execution computer. In the program generation 8, each processing unit is converted into a program of a format that can be executed by the execution computer determined by the automatic task division processing 4 or the optimization processing 6, and combined with the communication processing program generated by the communication processing generation 5. , Generate a program for each execution computer. Such automatic program generation can be performed by any computer.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining an example of business specifications to which the present invention is applied. The initial screen output unit 9 outputs the initial screen to the screen 10. The operator inputs data on the screen 10. The input data check unit 11 checks the validity of the input data. File update process 12
Updates the file 13 based on the input data. The form issuing 14 prints the content of the updated data on the printer 15 as a form. The processing indicated by each box in FIG. 2 is the processing unit of this business, and since this processing unit is patterned, the business specification 1 can be constructed by combining such processing patterns.

For example, in the case of interactive work, the work specification is as follows. Declaration section (screens / forms, file names, data
Declare tab name etc.) S1: Voucher input screen WS1 S2: Voucher check screen WS1 R1: Code reference file host U1: Voucher file host L1: Output form WS1 Procedures section (screens / forms declared in declaration section) , Operation for file and database is described.) Step-S1 Describe processing for input check screen S1. Step-R1 code reference The processing for accessing the file R1 is described. Step-S2 Describe the processing for the confirmation screen S2. Step-U1 File Update Describe the processing for accessing the file U1. Step-L1 Form output Describe the process for the form L1.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a system in which a business to which the present invention is applied operates. The large-scale computer 16 manages the file 13. The computer 18 is, for example, a workstation (WS) operated by an operator. A communication line 19 connects the large computer 16 and the workstation 18. Reference numeral 15 is a printer connected to the workstation 18 for issuing a form. 10 is a screen of the display device. Information on such a system configuration is part of the information 7.

In the prior art, when the business as shown in FIG. 2 is executed in the operating environment as shown in FIG. 3, the business program operates only on the large-scale computer 16. The operation of the business program developed by the conventional technique will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. The business program first transmits a screen output request and data of the screen 10 to be output by the initial screen output unit 9 to the workstation 18 via the communication line 19. The data entered by the operator on the screen 10 of the workstation 18 is transferred to the large-scale computer 16 via the communication line 1
9 is transmitted. The business program receives the transmitted data. The input data check unit 11 checks the validity of the data and updates the file 13. Further, the form issuing request 14 sends a form output request to the printer 15 connected to the workstation 18 through the communication line 19 to complete the business process.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the flow of processing in the automatic job division processing 4. The processing described below is performed for each processing unit in the job specification 1, and the computer to be executed is allocated to each processing unit while referring to the information on the system configuration in the information 7. First, it is determined whether or not the execution computer is explicitly designated in the processing unit (step 21). When the execution computer is explicitly designated, the designated computer is allocated as the execution computer of the processing unit (step 22). If no explicit execution computer is designated, it is determined whether the processing unit is user interface processing (step 23). The user interface process is a process directly related to a user operation such as a screen output process and an input data check, and which process corresponds to the user interface process is automatically processed by the automatic job division process 4 as information.
Give to. Such user interface processing is efficiently performed by a computer operated by the user.
Therefore, for the processing unit determined to be the user interface processing in the determination in step 23, the computer operated by the user in step 24 is allocated as the execution computer of the processing unit. User interface for output processing to printer
In this case, the computer to which the printer is connected is allocated as the execution computer of the processing unit. For the processing unit determined to be not the user interface processing in the determination in step 23, it is determined whether it is the data access processing in the determination in step 25. Data access processing is the input / output of data from the data storage location such as the file 13 or database.
This is processing such as updating. It is more efficient to perform the data access processing by a computer connected to the data storage device. Therefore, for the processing unit determined to be the data access processing in the determination in step 25, the large-scale computer 16 connected to the data storage device in step 26 is allocated as the execution computer for the processing unit. For the processing unit determined to be not the data access processing in the determination in step 25, the computer predetermined as pattern information corresponding to the type of the processing unit is allocated as the execution computer in step 27. In step 28, the next processing unit is assigned to the execution computer. If it is determined in step 29 that the execution computers are allocated to all the processing units, the processing ends. If there remains a processing unit to which the execution computer is to be allocated, the process returns to step 21 and the processing of allocating the execution computer to the processing unit is performed again.

It is assumed that the above-mentioned interactive work is input as the work specification. For each processing unit indicated by step-XX, it is judged at step 21 of the flowchart shown in FIG. 4 whether or not the execution computer is designated. If the execution computer is designated, the process is allocated to the designated execution computer. If the execution computer is not specified, if it is a processing unit for the screen Sn, it is determined to be the user interface process in the determination of step 23, and the computer operated by the user, that is, the computer displaying the screen is selected. The execution computer for each processing unit. In this example, WS1 is the execution computer as the processing unit for S1 and S2. If it is a processing unit for Rn, Un, etc., it is determined in step 25 that it is a data access process, and the computer storing the data is assigned as the execution computer for that processing unit. In this example, R
The processing unit of access to 1, U1 is assigned to the host.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of implementation of the communication processing generation 5. The communication process can be determined by the communication procedure and the format of the data sent by communication. The communication procedure is
Correspondence table 30 for combinations of types of execution computers and communication procedure information
Defined by As the communication procedure information, information such as a function or subroutine that needs to be called for communication and its order is stored. The format of the data sent by communication is determined by the combination of the type of the processing unit for transmitting the data, the combination of the types of the processing units for receiving the data, and the correspondence table 31 of the transmission data format. Such correspondence tables 30 and 31 are a part of the information 7. The communication process generation 5 inputs the information of the processing unit to which the execution computer is allocated in the automatic task division process 4 as shown by 33 and the information of the data transfer between the processing units, and the process to which the different execution computers are allocated. Correspondence table 3 when data is passed between units
The communication procedure is defined from 0, the format of the data to be delivered is defined from the correspondence table 31, and the communication process is generated. Taking the information shown in FIG. 33 as an example, based on the communication procedure information in the correspondence table 30 in which the sender computer type is A and the receiver computer type is B, the sender process type is Y and the receiver process type is Z. A program that performs a communication process for transmitting data in the transmission data format of the correspondence table 31 as described above is generated.

The optimization process 6 receives the same input as the input to the automatic work division process 4 and allocates the execution computers in the same way as the automatic work division process 4, but the execution computer registered as the information 7 The execution computers are assigned so that the indexes such as performance are optimized from the configuration information and the information about the communication between the execution computers. As a method of determining the optimum allocation, a method of trying all possible allocations to select the optimum one, a method of using a dynamic programming algorithm, and a method of obtaining the optimum allocation using an artificial intelligence (AI) method Various methods can be applied.

An example of implementation of the optimization process will be described for the above-mentioned interactive work as the work specification.

In this example, there are 32 possible combinations of execution computers as shown in FIG.

The execution pattern of each processing unit can be predicted to some extent by the processing pattern.

Assuming that the execution overhead of the instructions in each processing unit is given to each execution computer, the weight of the execution frequency is added, and the evaluation value of the execution overhead is obtained in 32 patterns. Selecting the lowest combination of allocation of execution computers results in the optimum allocation of execution computers.

In general, when there are n units of execution processing, and there are m candidates for execution computers, the combination of allocation of execution computers is m to the n-th power. (In the above example, n = 5, m = 2, and 2 ⁵ = 32 ways.) Therefore, it is expected that the number of combinations of allocation of execution computers will be enormous. By selecting a combination close to the optimum without using all combinations, it is possible to allocate an execution computer close to the optimum while reducing the processing time.

The program generation 6 converts each processing unit into a format of a program module executed by an execution computer, and adds a communication processing program to complete a business program.

That is, a business processing pattern is prepared in accordance with a standardized business pattern, and what business program is created for each processing pattern for each execution computer. There is a skeleton that determines. The part of the business process pattern that changes depending on the individual business is described by the user in the business process specification and embedded in the skeleton.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a large process flow of a business program automatically generated by applying the present invention when the business shown in FIG. 2 is executed in the operating environment shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the large computer 16 side program including the file update process 12 and the computer 18 side program including the initial screen output unit 9, the input data check unit 11, the file update request unit 39, and the form issuing unit 14 are as shown in FIG. It is generated from the business specification 1 that describes various business. When the operator starts the program on the computer 18 side, the initial screen output unit 9 outputs the initial screen to the screen 10. The operator inputs data on the screen 10. In the input check of the input data check unit 11, the validity of the data input by the operator is checked. The file update process 12
Since the file update request 39 generated in the communication processing generation 5 is included in the program on the large-scale computer 16 side, the data inputted by the operator from the computer 18 is transferred to the large-scale computer 16 from the computer 18.
Send according to the communication procedure to send data to. In this case, it is necessary to make a request to start the program on the side of the large-scale computer 16 before transmitting the data. The program on the side of the large-scale computer 16 receives the data and updates the file 13 in the file update processing 12. After sending the file update request to the large-scale computer, the computer 18 side program outputs the form to the printer 15 by the form issuing 14 and ends the processing.

[0030]

According to the present invention, in the development of business processing that spans a plurality of computers, it is possible to automatically divide the optimum program of the execution computer according to the characteristics of each computer from a single business specification. It is possible to eliminate the need to design communication protocols between programs that run on different execution computers and to develop communication processing, and to flexibly respond to changes in the operating computer configuration. The maintainability can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a procedure of a program automatic generation system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of business specifications to which the present invention is applied.

3 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a system in which the business shown in FIG. 2 operates.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing flow of automatic job division processing.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an implementation example of communication processing generation.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a flow of processing of a business program automatically generated by applying the present invention to the business shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a combination of execution computers.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... Business specification 4 ... Automatic business division processing 5 ... Communication processing generation 6 ... Optimization processing 8 ... Program generation

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A method of generating a business program executed across a plurality of computers, the first step of inputting a business specification that combines a plurality of pre-patterned processing units, the business specification and execution. A second step of allocating a computer that executes a program for each processing unit based on the configuration information about the computer, a communication process based on a communication procedure and a transmission data format for communication between computers for the processing unit. And a fourth step of generating the business program based on the processing unit and the communication processing program, the automatic generation method of a program across a plurality of computers. 2. The automatic generation method of a program across a plurality of computers according to claim 1, wherein the second step is to select a combination pattern of execution computers having the smallest evaluation value of execution overhead. 3. The automatic program generation method for a plurality of computers according to claim 1, wherein the communication procedure is determined by a correspondence table of combinations of types of executing computers and communication procedure information. 4. The transmission data format is defined by a combination of a type of processing unit for transmitting data, a combination of types of processing units for receiving data, and a correspondence table of transmission data formats. An automatic program generation method that spans multiple computers. 5. The automatic program generation method for a plurality of computers according to claim 3, wherein the communication procedure information is information indicating a function / subroutine that needs to be called for communication and its order.