Re: [Opencxx-users] Implementing a iContract like tool for C++ with OpenC++

[Grzegorz J. <ja...@he...>]

On Mon, 10 May 2004, Aitor Garay-Romero wrote:

> Hi there!,
>
> 	Lately I have been thinking on how it could be possible to implement an
> iContract like tool for C++.  iContract is a Design by Contract tool for
> Java.  The basic idea is to parse the C++ source code looking for special
> comment blocks that specify the precondition/postcondition/invariants of the
> class.  Then the input source code is extended with code that check the
> contracts at runtime.
> 	There are a few options for implementing such a DbC tool for C++.  I have
> come to OpenC++ and believe that is the most promising way to implement it
> "easily".  Other alternatives I'm considering are implementing a standalone
> application that uses some freely available grammar or may be extending the
> AspectC compiler.
> 	I have no experience at all with OpenC++ and I have a few doubts.
>
> 	- do OpenC++ meta-programs have access to the source code comments?

Only at the class level, see Class::Comments(). However lexer recognizes
comments, you would need to tweak parser to put the comments in the parse
tree.

> 	- are the meta-programs able to transverse the inheritance hierarchy of a
> given class?

Yes.

> 	- how well does OpenC++ handle macros?

OpenC++ does not see any macros, OpenC++ works on preprocessed sources.
AFAIU this is what you need.

Some applications, however, need to understand code with macros unexpanded
(e.g. if you want to regenerate human-readable source code). Asen Kovachev,
Stefan Seelfeld and myself are thinking of this functionality, but it is
definitely still in "thinking" phase.

>  And namespaces?

OpenC++ understand namespaces and qualified names except namespace
aliases. Thanks to Stefan namespace alias declarations can be parsed now,
but still they are not considered in lookup :-(

> 	- is it possible to introduce new methods in the generated classes?

Yes.

> Is it
> possible to do arbitrary transformations like nesting the body of a method
> inside some try/catch blocks?

Yes.

>
> 	Sorry for the long list of questions, it would be very helpful if I can get
> a rough idea of OpenC++ possibilities before getting deep into it.  Has
> someone hear about some similar effort of implementing DbC for C++?  Any
> ideas?

(1) Browse archives of this list to get more insight of what can be done.

(2) There are two major modes of using OpenC++:

    * Deriving classes from "Class" in order to customize the
      source-to-source translation.

    * Taking OpenC++ source code as a code base to build your own
      application of top of it (it usually means deriving from "Abstract...Walker"
      and/or making modifications to existing code).

(3) The most up-to-date version of OpenC++ is in sandbox_jakacki_frontend1,
    Stefan and myself are working now on merging it to MAIN and releasing it
    soon.

BR
Grzegorz




>
> 	Thanks!,
>
> 	/AITOR
>
>
>
> -------------------------------------------------------
> This SF.Net email is sponsored by Sleepycat Software
> Learn developer strategies Cisco, Motorola, Ericsson & Lucent use to deliver
> higher performing products faster, at low TCO.
> http://www.sleepycat.com/telcomwpreg.php?From=osdnemail3
> _______________________________________________
> Opencxx-users mailing list
> Ope...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/opencxx-users
>
>

##################################################################
# Grzegorz Jakacki                       Huada Electronic Design #
# Senior Engineer, CAD Dept.              1 Gaojiayuan, Chaoyang #
# tel. +86-10-64365577 x2074               Beijing 100015, China #
# Copyright (C) 2004 Grzegorz Jakacki, HED. All Rights Reserved. #
##################################################################