The design and performance of meta-programming mechanisms for object request broker middleware

Abstract

Distributed object computing (DOC) middleware shields developers from many tedious and error-prone aspects of programming distributed applications. Without proper support from the middleware, however, it can be hard to evolve distributed applications after they are deployed. Therefore, DOC middleware should support meta-programming mechanisms, such as smart proxies and interceptors, that improve the adaptability of distributed applications by allowing their behavior to be modified without changing existing software drastically. This paper presents three contributions to the study of metaprogramming mechanisms for DOC middleware. First, it illustrates, compares, and contrasts several meta-programming mechanisms from an application developer's perspective. Second, it outlines the key design and implementation challenges associated with developing smart proxies and portable interceptors features for CORBA. Third, it presents empirical results that pinpoint the performance impact of smart proxies and interceptors. Our goal is to help researchers and developers determine which meta-programming mechanisms best suit their application requirements.