Case study: Re-engineering C++ component models via automatic program transformation

Automated program transformation holds promise for a variety of software life cycle endeavors, particularly where the size of legacy systems makes manual code analysis, re-engineering, and evolution difficult and expensive. But constructing highly scalable transformation tools supporting modern languages in full generality is itself a painstaking and expensive process. This cost can be managed by developing a common transformation system infrastructure re-useable by derived tools that each address specific tasks, thus leveraging the infrastructure costs. This paper describes the Design Maintenance System (DMS1), a practical, commercial program analysis and transformation system, and discusses how it was employed to construct a custom modernization tool being applied to a large C++ avionics system. The tool transforms components developed in a 1990s-era component style to a more modern CORBA-like component framework, preserving functionality.