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

Distributed object computing (DOC) middleware shields developers from many tedious and error-prone aspects of pro¬ gramming distributed applications. Without proper support from the middleware, however, it can be hard to evolve dis¬ tributed applications after theyare 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 studyofmetaprogramming mechanisms for DOC middleware. First, it il¬ lustrates, 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 re¬ sults that pinpoint the performance impact ofsmart proxies and interceptors. Our goal is to help researchers and developers determine which meta-programming mechanisms best suit their application requirements.