Automata-theoretic approach compiler for adaptive software

Claim 1

A compiler for providing software code in a target object-oriented language from an adaptive program and a class graph, comprising: an automata generator operative to provide a traversal automaton representative of a selected set of paths in the class graph, said automata generator providing said traversal automaton from a traversal specification in the adaptive program and the class graph, wherein said traversal automaton is a non-deterministic finite state automaton which is transformed into a minimal deterministic finite state automaton for the purpose of code generation and said automaton is a generalized automaton which contains state transitions of the form: {n}x where n is a set of numbers and x is a part to be traversed, set n controlling the circumstances under which x is traversed such that a source s* and target t* are added to said traversal automaton and further wherein all nodes are marked which are reachable from s* and from which t* is reachable; and a Traversal Method Algorithm ("TMA") operative to associate said traversal automaton with operations defined in the adaptive program, thereby translating said adaptive program into a traversal-state-passing program in the target language, whereby the traversal specification of the adaptive program does not need to satisfy constraints with respect to the class graph, and hence said compiler is a general compiler.