Java in eingebetteten Systemen

Moderne, objektorientierte Sprachen spielen bei der Entwicklung von Software für eingebettete Systeme bislang kaum eine Rolle. Die Gründe hierfür sind vielfältig, meist wird jedoch die mangelnde Effizienz und der größere Speicherbedarf hervorgehoben. Obwohl Java viele Eigenschaften hat, die sehr für einen Einsatz in eingebetteten Systemen sprechen, so hängt doch gerade Java vielfach immer noch das Vorurteil an, in Systemen mit beschränkter Rechenleistung und Speicher zu viele Ressourcen zu benötigen. Diese Arbeit soll dazu beitragen, diese Vorurteile abzutragen. Sie stellt insbesondere Techniken vor, die den Speicherbedarf einer JVM so gering wie möglich halten und diese effizient mit der zur Verfügung stehenden Rechenleistung umgehen lassen. Viele der dargestellten Verfahren und Algorithmen wurden in der Kertasarie VM implementiert, einer virtuellen Maschine, die speziell für den Einsatz in eingebetteten Systemen konzipiert wurde. Durch die weit verbreitete Vernetzung eingebetteter Systeme über das Internet stellt sich in vielen Fällen zudem das Problem einer modernen, abstrakten und effizienten Form der Kommunikation. Aus diesem Grund liegt der zweite Schwerpunkt dieser Arbeit auf dem Vergleich von objektorientierten Middleware-Architekturen, insbesondere von Java-RMI. Auch auf diesem Gebiet wird eine eigene, speziell an eingebettete Systeme angepasste RMI-Variante vorgestellt.Modern, object oriented languages do not play an important role when developing software for embedded systems. There are many reasons for it, most often an inadequate performance and a greater memory demand are mentioned. In spite of the fact that Java has many features suitable for embedded systems, Java often faces the prejudice to consume too much resources in systems with limited processing power and memory. This work is a contribution to diminish this prejudices. It presents techniques to limit the memory demands of a Java Virtual Machine and to effectively cope with limited computing power. Many of the presented methods and algorithms are implemented in the Kertasarie VM, a JVM designed to run in embedded systems.Due to the fact of increasing network capabilities embedded systems often face the problem of a modern, abstract and efficient communication. Therefore the second emphasis of this work is put on the comparison of object oriented middleware architectures, especially Java-RMI. An own implementation for embedded systems is also presented

Entwurf und Implementierung effizienter Objektsysteme für funktionale und imperative Programmiersprachen am Beispiel von Lisp

Bisherige Objektsysteme funktionaler und imperativer Programmiersprachen weisen eine Lücke auf. Aus der funktionalen Tradition wurde das ausdrucksstärkste Objektsystem CLOS entwickelt, das insbesondere durch sein Metaobjektprotokoll hervorsticht, dessen Performanz aber zu wünschen übrig läßt. Auf der anderen Seite zeichnet sich C++ als besonders effizient aus, unterstützt aber zentrale Konzepte objektorientierter Programmierung wie Spezialisieren und Generalisieren von Objektklassen nur unzureichend, was abgeschwächt auch für Java gilt. In dieser Arbeit wird am Beispiel von Lisp gezeigt, wie man effiziente Objektsysteme unter Berücksichtigung des Verursacherprinzips so entwirft und implementiert, daß einfache Konstrukte keinen Overhead durch die Präsenz aufwendiger Konzepte, wie des Metaobjektprotokolls oder des Redefinierens von Klassen, mittragen müssen. Entgegen bisherigen Annahmen wird hier erstmals nachgewiesen, daß diese Konzepte auch ohne Quellcodeinterpretation bzw. -kompilation zur Laufzeit realisiert und somit auch in traditionellen, compiler-orientierten Programmiersprachen, wie Ada, Pascal, Eiffel, C++ und natürlich Java, unterstützt werden können.Up to now a gap is evident in object systems of functional and procedural programming languages. The most expressive object system developed in the family of functional languages is CLOS with its outstanding metaobject protocol. Its performance, however, does not meet the users' needs. In the family of procedural languages the most efficient object system developed is C++. But its support of central concepts of object-oriented programming, such as specialization and generalization of object classes, is not sufficient. This also applies in some degree for Java. Using Lisp as an example this thesis shows how efficient object systems can be designed and implemented so that simple constructs have no overhead because of the presence of complex concepts such as the metaobject protocol or the redefinition of classes. In contrast to former assumptions, this thesis proofs for the first time that the above mentioned concepts can be realized without embedding an interpreter or an incremental compiler in the run-time environment. Therefore, they can also be supported in traditional compileroriented programming languages such as Ada, Pascal, Eiffel, C++, and Java

Java Seminarbeiträge

Zusammenstellung der Beitraege des Java-Seminars, das im Sommersemester 1996 in Form eines Kompakt-Seminars am Institut fuer Programmstrukturen und Datenorganisation durchgefuehrt wurde. Es werden Grundlagen und Spracheigenschaften von Java behandelt, einschliesslich Threads und Synchronisierung. Ferner werden die verfuegbaren Klassenbibliotheken vorgestellt. Einen weiteren Schwerpunkt des Seminars bilden Bytecode, Just-In-Time-Uebersetzung und das Sicherheitskonzept von Java. Randthemen wie die Kombination von Java und CORBA, die angekuendigte Implementierung von Java in Hardware und die Vorstellung von EspressoGrinder, eines am IPD entwickelten Java Uebersetzers, runden das Seminar ab

Event-Oriented Dynamic Adaptation of Workflows: Model, Architecture and Implementation

Workflow management is widely accepted as a core technology to support long-term business processes in heterogeneous and distributed environments. However, conventional workflow management systems do not provide sufficient flexibility support to cope with the broad range of failure situations that may occur during workflow execution. In particular, most systems do not allow to dynamically adapt a workflow due to a failure situation, e.g., to dynamically drop or insert execution steps. As a contribution to overcome these limitations, this dissertation introduces the agent-based workflow management system AgentWork. AgentWork supports the definition, the execution and, as its main contribution, the event-oriented and semi-automated dynamic adaptation of workflows. Two strategies for automatic workflow adaptation are provided. Predictive adaptation adapts workflow parts affected by a failure in advance (predictively), typically as soon as the failure is detected. This is advantageous in many situations and gives enough time to meet organizational constraints for adapted workflow parts. Reactive adaptation is typically performed when predictive adaptation is not possible. In this case, adaptation is performed when the affected workflow part is to be executed, e.g., before an activity is executed it is checked whether it is subject to a workflow adaptation such as dropping, postponement or replacement. In particular, the following contributions are provided by AgentWork: A Formal Model for Workflow Definition, Execution, and Estimation: In this context, AgentWork first provides an object-oriented workflow definition language. This language allows for the definition of a workflow\u92s control and data flow. Furthermore, a workflow\u92s cooperation with other workflows or workflow systems can be specified. Second, AgentWork provides a precise workflow execution model. This is necessary, as a running workflow usually is a complex collection of concurrent activities and data flow processes, and as failure situations and dynamic adaptations affect running workflows. Furthermore, mechanisms for the estimation of a workflow\u92s future execution behavior are provided. These mechanisms are of particular importance for predictive adaptation. Mechanisms for Determining and Processing Failure Events and Failure Actions: AgentWork provides mechanisms to decide whether an event constitutes a failure situation and what has to be done to cope with this failure. This is formally achieved by evaluating event-condition-action rules where the event-condition part describes under which condition an event has to be viewed as a failure event. The action part represents the necessary actions needed to cope with the failure. To support the temporal dimension of events and actions, this dissertation provides a novel event-condition-action model based on a temporal object-oriented logic. Mechanisms for the Adaptation of Affected Workflows: In case of failure situations it has to be decided how an affected workflow has to be dynamically adapted on the node and edge level. AgentWork provides a novel approach that combines the two principal strategies reactive adaptation and predictive adaptation. Depending on the context of the failure, the appropriate strategy is selected. Furthermore, control flow adaptation operators are provided which translate failure actions into structural control flow adaptations. Data flow operators adapt the data flow after a control flow adaptation, if necessary. Mechanisms for the Handling of Inter-Workflow Implications of Failure Situations: AgentWork provides novel mechanisms to decide whether a failure situation occurring to a workflow affects other workflows that communicate and cooperate with this workflow. In particular, AgentWork derives the temporal implications of a dynamic adaptation by estimating the duration that will be needed to process the changed workflow definition (in comparison with the original definition). Furthermore, qualitative implications of the dynamic change are determined. For this purpose, so-called quality measuring objects are introduced. All mechanisms provided by AgentWork include that users may interact during the failure handling process. In particular, the user has the possibility to reject or modify suggested workflow adaptations. A Prototypical Implementation: Finally, a prototypical Corba-based implementation of AgentWork is described. This implementation supports the integration of AgentWork into the distributed and heterogeneous environments of real-world organizations such as hospitals or insurance business enterprises