CLASS HIERARCHY SPECIALIZATION

Class libraries are generally designed with an emphasis on versatility and extensibility. Applications that use a library typically exercise only part of the library's functionality. As a result, objects create d by the application may contain unused members. We present an algorit hm that specializes a class hierarchy with respect to its usage in a p rogram p. That is, the algorithm analyzes the member access patterns f or P's variables, and creates distinct classes for variables that acce ss different members. Class hierarchy specialization reduces object si ze, and is hence primarily a space optimization. However, execution ti me may also be reduced through reduced object creation/destruction tim e, and caching/paging effects.