USENIX Conference on Object-Oriented Technologies and Systems 

About: USENIX Conference on Object-Oriented Technologies and Systems is an academic conference. The conference publishes majorly in the area(s): Java & Real time Java. Over the lifetime, 59 publications have been published by the conference receiving 1965 citations.

Quality of services specification in distributed object systems design

Abstract: Traditional object-oriented design methods deal with the functional aspects of systems, but they do not address quality of service (QoS) aspects such as reliability, availability, performance, security, and timing. However, deciding which QoS properties should be provided by individual system components is an important part of the design process. Different decisions are likely to result in different component implementations and system structures. Thus, decisions about component-level QoS should be made at design time, before the implementation is begun. Since these decisions are an important part of the design process, they should be captured as part of the design. We propose a general Quality-of-Service specification language, which we call QML. In this paper we show how QML can be used to capture QoS properties as part of designs. In addition, we extend UML, the de-facto standard object-oriented modeling language, to support the concepts of QML. QML is designed to integrate with object-oriented features, such as interfaces, classes, and inheritance. In particular, it allows specification of QoS properties through refinement of existing QoS specifications. Although we exemplify the use of QML to specify QoS properties within the categories of reliability and performance, QML can be used for specification within any QoS category-QoS categories are user-defined types in QML.

Execution patterns in object-oriented visualization

Abstract: Execution patterns are a new metaphor for visualizing execution traces of object-oriented programs We present an execution pattern view that lets a programmer visualize and explore a program's execution at varied levels of abstraction The view employs visual, navigational, and analytical techniques that accommodate lengthy, real-world traces By classifying repetitive behavior automatically into high-order execution patterns, we drastically reduce the inform ation a programmer must assimilate, with little loss of in sight

Toba: Java For Applications: A Way Ahead of Time (WAT) Compiler

Abstract: Toba is a system for generating efficient standalone Java applications. Toba includes a Java-bytecode-to-C compiler, a garbage collector, a threads package, and Java API support. Toba-compiled Java applications execute 1.5-4.2 times faster than interpreted and Just-In-Time compiled applications.

COBEA: a CORBA-based event architecture

Abstract: Events are an emerging paradigm for composing applications in an open, heterogeneous distributed world. In Cambridge we have developed scalable event handling based on a publish-register-notify model with event object classes and server-side filtering based on parameter templates. After experience in using this approach in a home-built RPC system we have extended CORBA, an open standard for distributed object computing, to handle events in this way. In this paper, we present the design of COBEA - a COrba-Based Event Architecture. A service that is the source of (parameterised) events publishes in a Trader the events it is prepared to notify, along with its normal interface specification. For scalability, a client must register interest (by invoking a register method with appropriate parameters or wild cards) at the service, at which point an access control check is carried out. Subsequently, whenever a matching event occurs, the client is notified. We outline the requirements on the COBEA architecture, then describe its components and their interfaces. The design and implementation aim to support easy construction of applications by using COBEA components. The components include event primitives, an event mediator and a composite event service; each features well-defined interfaces and semantics for event registration, notification and filtering. We demonstrate that COBEA is flexible in supporting various application scenarios yet handles efficiently the most common event communications. The performance of server-side filtering for various registration scenarios is presented. Our initial experience with applications is also described.

Harissa: a flexible and efficient java environment mixing bytecode and compiled code

Abstract: The Java language provides a promising solution to the design of safe programs, with an application spectrum ranging from Web services to operating system components. The well-known tradeoff of Java's portability is the inefficiency of its basic execution model, which relies on the interpretation of an object-based virtual machine. Many solutions have been proposed to overcome this problem, such as just-in-time (JIT) and off-line bytecode compilers. However, most compilers trade efficiency for either portability or the ability to dynamically load bytecode. In this paper, we present an approach which reconciles portability and efficiency, and preserves the ability to dynamically load bytecode. We have designed and implemented an efficient environment for the execution of Java programs, named Harissa. Harissa permits the mixing of compiled and interpreted methods. Harissa's compiler translates Java bytecode to C, incorporating aggressive optimizations such as virtual-method call optimization based on the Class Hierarchy Analysis. To evaluate the performance of Harissa, we have conducted an extensive experimental study aimed at comparing the various existing alternatives to execute Java programs. The C code produced by Harissa's compiler is more efficient than all other alternative ways of executing Java programs (that were available to us): it is up to 140 times faster than the JDK interpreter, up to 13 times faster than the Softway Guava JIT, and 30% faster than the Toba bytecode to C compiler.