Specifying components in graph-based programs

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10175951-B2
Application number	US-201514843084-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 2, 2015
Priority date	Sep 2, 2014
Publication date	Jan 8, 2019
Grant date	Jan 8, 2019

Abstract

User input is received specifying components of a graph-based program specification. User input is received specifying links, at least some connecting an output port of an upstream component to an input port of a downstream component. The graph-based program specification is processed to identify one or more subsets of the components, including: identifying one or more subset entry points and one or more subset exit points that occur between components in different subsets based at least in part on data processing characteristics of linked components, and forming the subsets based on the identified subset entry points and exit points. A visual representation of the formed subsets is rendered within a user interface. Prepared code is generated for each formed subset that when used for execution by a runtime system causes processing tasks corresponding to the components in each formed subset to be performed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for processing a graph-based program specification, the method including:
rendering, in a user interface, a graph-based program specification, the rendering including,
receiving user input specifying a plurality of components, each corresponding to a processing task and at least some components including one or more ports, wherein the ports include scalar data ports for sending or receiving a single data element, and collection data ports for sending or receiving a collection of multiple data elements, and
receiving user input specifying a plurality of links, at least some of the links connecting an output port of an upstream component of the plurality of components to an input port of a downstream component of the plurality of components; and

processing the graph-based program specification to identify one or more subsets of the plurality of components, the processing including:
repeatedly performing a subset processing procedure, the subset processing procedure including:
identifying one or more subset entry points and one or more subset exit points that occur between components in different subsets based at least in part on data processing characteristics of linked components indicated by at least one link connecting a collection data port to a scalar data port,
forming the subsets based on the identified subset entry points, and the identified subset exit points, and
rendering a visual representation of the formed subsets within the user interface, and

generating prepared code for each formed subset that when used for execution by a runtime system causes processing tasks corresponding to the components in each formed subset to be performed,

wherein rendering, in the user interface, the graph-based program specification further includes receiving first user input specifying at least one component to be removed from one of the subsets, the first user input causing the subset processing procedure to pause until user input specifying a new subset in which the removed component is to be included is received.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the processing further includes storing a history of user input that includes user input specifying one or more components to be included in or removed from one of the subsets, the history of user input including the first user input specifying at least one component to be removed from one of the subsets.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein forming the subsets includes generating a new subset in which the removed component is to be included.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the history of user input includes user input specifying at least one component to be included in one of the subsets.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the subset in which the specified component is to be included includes an input for enabling or disabling all components in the subset.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the one or more subset entry points and one or more subset exit points includes:
identifying one or more subset entry points based on identifying one or more links connecting a collection data output port of an upstream component to a scalar data input port of a downstream component; and
identifying one or more subset exit points based on identifying one or more links connecting a scalar data output port of an upstream component to a collection data input port of a downstream component.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein forming the subsets includes traversing the components of the graph-based program specification while maintaining a record of traversed subset entry points and subset exit points, and associating each component of the graph-based program specification with a single subset identifier determined from the record of traversed subset entry points and subset exit points.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein each subset identifier associated with an identified subset of the plurality of component is unique.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the record of traversed subset entry points and subset exit points is maintained as a path of identifier values.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the path of identifier values includes a string of identifier values separated from each other by a separation character.

11. The method of claim 6 , wherein forming the subsets includes:
associating a first component of the graph-based program specification with a subset identifier;
propagating the subset identifier to components downstream from the first component; and
modifying the subset identifier during propagation of the subset identifier based on the identified subset entry points and the identified subset exit points.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein modifying the subset identifier during propagation of the subset identifier includes:
changing a value of the subset identifier from a first subset identifier value to a second subset identifier value associated with a subset entry point upon traversing the subset entry point; and
changing the value of the subset identifier to the first subset identifier value upon traversing a subset exit point associated with the subset entry point.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the prepared code for each formed subset includes generating a control graph that includes components of that formed subset and connections between those components based on links in the graph-based program specification between ports that enforce serial execution.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the runtime system uses the prepared code to cause processing tasks corresponding to the components in different instances of at least one of the formed subsets to be performed in parallel.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein multiple subsets are formed in a hierarchy that has at least one formed subset nested within another formed subset.

16. A non-transitory medium comprising software stored thereon, the software for processing a graph-based program specification and including instructions for causing a computing system to:
render, in a user interface, a graph-based program specification, the rendering including:
receiving user input specifying a plurality of components, each corresponding to a processing task and at least some components including one or more ports, wherein the ports include scalar data ports for sending or receiving a single data element, and collection data ports for sending or receiving a collection of multiple data elements, and
receiving user input specifying a plurality of links, at least some of the links connecting an output port of an upstream component of the plurality of components to an input port of a downstream component of the plurality of components; and

process the graph-based program specification to identify one or more subsets of the plurality of components, the processing including:
repeatedly performing a subset processing procedure, the subset processing procedure including:
identifying one or more subset entry points and one or more subset exit points that occur between components in different subsets based at least in part on data processing characteristics of linked components indicated by at least one link connecting a collection data port to a scalar data port,
forming the subsets based on the identified subset entry points, and the identified subset exit points, and
rendering a visual representation of the formed subsets within the user interface, and

generating prepared code for each formed subset that when used for execution by a runtime system causes processing tasks corresponding to the components in each formed subset to be

Assignees

• Ab Initio Technology Llc

Inventors

• Stanfill Craig W
• Weiss Adam
• Roberts Andrew F
• Kukolich Stephen A

Classifications

• G06F9/4494

  data driven · CPC title

• G06F3/0482

  Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus · CPC title

• G06F9/4843

  by program, e.g. task dispatcher, supervisor, operating system · CPC title

• G06F8/456

  Parallelism detection · CPC title

• G06F8/10 Primary

  Requirements analysis; Specification techniques · CPC title