Parameterized Code Generation From Template Semantics

Abstract

We have developed a tool that can create a Java code generator for a behavioural modelling notation given only a description of the notation's semantics as a set of parameters. This description is based on template semantics, which has previously been used to describe a wide variety of notations. As a result, we have a technique for generating Java code for models written in any notation describable in template semantics. Since template semantics allows for models containing nondeterminism, we introduce mechanisms for eliminating this nondeterminism when generating code. We describe Java implementations of several template-semantics composition operators that have no natural Java representations and give some techniques for optimizing the generated code without sacrificing correctness. The efficiency of our generated code is comparable to that of commercial notation-specific code generators.