Patent ID: 6427231
Filing Date: 2002-07-30
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
A process of using a method object stored in a memory of a computer, said method object configured for operation by a processor in accordance with a dynamic object-oriented programming language, said process comprising the steps of:creating said method object comprising a method-information field stored at a fixed location relative to a starting memory location of said method object and a variable size method body of program code stored at another location, said method-information field containing an offset identifying the location of said method body; executing one of an ordinary function call program statement and a generic function call program statement during run time to invoke said method body of said method object; and entering said method object at one of a first entry point to directly invoke said method body in response to execution of the ordinary function call and a second entry point to invoke said method body in the context of a generic function dispatch in response to execution of the generic function call, wherein said first entry point is different from said second entry point and other than the location of said method body, said first and second entry points enabling the processor to execute the program code contained in the method body.