Generic components for static operations at object level

Abstract

Reflection allows defining generic operations in terms of object constituents. A performance penalty accrues if reflection is effectuated at run time, which is usually the case. If performance matters, some compile-time means of reflection is desired to obviate that penalty. Furthermore, static meta-information may be utilized for class creation, e.g., in optimizations. We provide such means in generic components, employing static meta-programming. Essentially, object structure is encoded in a generic container that models a statically indexed family. Optimizations benefit any object defined in terms of that container. © 2008 Springer-Verlag.