| Code generators for distributed computing systems shield users from the low level communication details of the underlying run-time systems by isolating those details in a library against which code can be linked. Distributed systems have complex run time systems designed to run in heterogeneous environments with dynamically varying loads, multiple communication protocols and they adhere to different Quality of Service (QoS) requirements. To leverage the strengths of each distributed system, a user may want to develop an application that has components from several of these different systems. In such cases the user needs to use a code generator for each one of the distributed systems that the application incorporates. Instead, it is desirable to present the user with a flexible code generation framework that accepts a simple yet powerful interface definition language and is capable of generating code for multiple distributed systems.; The architecture of such a code generator needs to capture the common traits of distributed systems and also needs to maintain their individual specializations. To achieve this we need to meet three challenges. Firstly, we need to identify and define the common features in the code generated for various distributed systems. Secondly, users should have an elegant and simple mechanism to specify their interfaces. Thirdly, the architecture should be extensible. With the passage of time new protocols will be developed and it is important that the architecture be flexible enough so that it can be used with new programming languages, future network protocols and new run-time systems.; In this dissertation we propose the design and implementation of an architecture, the Open Framework Code Generation Toolkit (CGT), that meets these three challenges. Instead of using specialized code generators the CGT can be used as the universal code generator for any distributed system. We have created a set of tools to translate XML Schema-based specifications into code in various languages. We identify the design patterns that commonly occur in the generated code for distributed systems. |
