A computer-readable storage medium configured with data and with instructions that when executed by at least one processor cause the processor(s) to perform a technical process for managing runtime behavior characteristics of types and type members of a computer program in an environment, the computer program having a source code which is written in at least one data-typed programming language, the process comprising the steps of: electronically obtaining in a volatile digital memory a directives document containing human-readable directives which are not interleaved with the computer program source code and which are parsable by software; software parsing the directives document and thereby locating at least one runtime behavior characteristic directive; characterized in that locating comprising locating at least one of the runtime behavior characteristic directives reciting a degree which has a degree value "excluded", wherein a degree is a name of a semantic characteristic and has one of the degrees "included", "excluded" or "required" and wherein the runtime behavior characteristic directives apply to types or members of types and are hierarchically structured, the hierarchical structure reflecting a combination of organizing concepts of programming languages used in the managed computer program's source code; the runtime behavior characteristic directives being further comprised of a set of XML elements and the degree appearing as an attribute of a Field, Property, Event, Method or Methodlnstantiation element; wherein the process further comprises applying at least one composition rule to at least two runtime behavior characteristic directives to produce a composite runtime behavior characteristic directive; and submitting at least a portion of parsing step results to a compiler to manage at least one of the runtime behavior characteristics of the computer program in the environment, comprising determining the parsing step results from the composite directive and compiling at least a portion of the computer program source code into native code as directed by the directives document. electronically obtaining in a volatile digital memory a directives document containing human-readable directives which are not interleaved with the computer program source code and which are parsable by software; software parsing the directives document and thereby locating at least one runtime behavior characteristic directive; characterized in that locating comprising locating at least one of the runtime behavior characteristic directives reciting a degree which has a degree value "excluded", wherein a degree is a name of a semantic characteristic and has one of the degrees "included", "excluded" or "required" and wherein the runtime behavior characteristic directives apply to types or members of types and are hierarchically structured, the hierarchical structure reflecting a combination of organizing concepts of programming languages used in the managed computer program's source code; the runtime behavior characteristic directives being further comprised of a set of XML elements and the degree appearing as an attribute of a Field, Property, Event, Method or Methodlnstantiation element; wherein the process further comprises applying at least one composition rule to at least two runtime behavior characteristic directives to produce a composite runtime behavior characteristic directive; and submitting at least a portion of parsing step results to a compiler to manage at least one of the runtime behavior characteristics of the computer program in the environment, comprising determining the parsing step results from the composite directive and compiling at least a portion of the computer program source code into native code as directed by the directives document.