Title page for ETD etd-12062003-115402

Type of Document

Master's Thesis

Author

Kothapalli, Malini

Author's Email Address

mkothapa@vt.edu

URN

etd-12062003-115402

Title

Automated Conversion of Structured Fortran 77 code Into Object-Oriented C++ Code

Degree

Master of Science

Department

Computer Science

Advisory Committee

Advisor Name	Title
Bohn, Jan Helge	Committee Chair
Arthur, James D.	Committee Co-Chair
Edwards, Stephen H.	Committee Member

Keywords

automated conversion
legacy code
structured
object-oriented

Date of Defense

2003-05-08

Availability

unrestricted

Abstract

The maintenance of legacy software systems that were developed using a procedural
design approach is becoming increasingly expensive. The procedural approach is often
ill suited for complex systems that need to integrate with other codes. Furthermore, these
legacy systems are usually written in FORTRAN, for which there is increasingly less
personnel available compared to, say, C++. While it would be desirable to convert these
legacy systems into object-oriented codes described in C++, such a conversion process is
nontrivial. Currently, the structural design must be manually examined, interpreted, and
converted into an object-oriented design described in an object-oriented language.
Therefore, the conversion process is likely to introduce numerous new inconsistencies
and errors, which degrades the software's quality and increases its costs.
The preferred solution would be to automate this conversion process. Automation
would promote consistency by eliminating the manual variations in interpretation and
implementation. It would therefore maximize the likelihood that the converted code does
not introduce new errors relative to the original code.
The work presented here automates the conversion process from procedural
design described in the FORTRAN77 language into object-oriented design described in
the C++ language. It demonstrates the extraction of object-oriented elements using
FORTRAN common block structures and FORTRAN subroutine and function-calling
hierarchies. The result is a consistent, first-cut converted design, which enhances cohesion within classes and reduces coupling between classes. This result is described in
the contemporary, broadly used computer language C++, which integrates with adjacent
modules that might still remain procedural and described in FORTRAN.

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