Metaprogramming framework for generating persistent Java']Java applications

Improving the quality of earlier created, legacy software and adjusting those to meet new functional and performance requirements is one of the biggest challenges these days in the field of software engineering. The problem to be solved seems to be pretty straightforward: modifying the existing source code and then extending, and enhancing it with new functionalities. In order to accomplish this task, program elements have to be identified and then used to create the formal model of the program. Metaprogramming is a well-known and suitable technique for implementing these changes. Authors' aim was to develop a metaprogramming framework which can be used to transform transient Java applications into persistent ones. Persistency is managed by ObjectStore PSE Pro, a personal storage edition for Java, making persistent data available to programmers in a familiar, normal Java object fashion. Managing the ObjectStore components requires only minor modification of the transient code and the insertion of some code stubs. In the present article authors introduce the infrastructure, its main features, and the prototype system created.