Generative Programming: Methods, Tools, and Applications

Generative Programming (GP) offers the promise of moving from "one-of-a-kind" software systems to the semi-automated manufacture of wide varieties of software -- essentially, an assembly line for software systems. GP's goal is to model software system families and build software modules such that, given particular requirements specs, highly customized and optimized intermediate or end products can be constructed on demand. This is the first book to cover Generative Programming in depth. The authors, leaders in their field, introduce the two-stage GP development cycle: one stage for designing and implementing a generative domain model, and another for using the model to build concrete systems. They review key differences between generative modeling and processes used for "one-of-a-kind" systems. Next, they introduce key GP concepts such as feature models, and demonstrate "generic programming" techniques for creating components which lend themselves to easy combination and reuse. The book also introduces Aspect Oriented Programming, which allows developers to solve key recurring problems in traditional O-O development; and presents metaprogramming techniques for building powerful program generators. Three detailed case studies demonstrate the entire generative development cycle, from analysis to implementation.

Krzysztof Czarnecki is a researcher and consultant with the Software Engineering Lab at DaimlerChrysler Research and Technology in Ulm, Germany. He gained firsthand experience with Aspect-Oriented Programming and Intentional Programming during research visits at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center and the Microsoft Research in Redmond, Washington. He received an M.S. degree in computer science from California State University at Sacramento, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in computer science from the University of Ilmenau in Germany.

Ulrich W. Eisenecker is a professor of computer science at the University of Applied Sciences Kaiserslautern at Zweibrocken, where he chairs the department for componentware and windows interfaces. Prior to his university career he spent nearly a decade in industry. He is an editor of a special supplement on component software of the German IT magazine OBJEKTspektrum, for which he also writes a C++ column. He has published more than a hundred articles, and frequently speaks at national and international IT conferences.