metacode

[Joe McIntyre]

Is there any such thing as code that operates on the codebase, like a compiler, but instead of creating machine code, it just creates modified human readable code? This is hard to explain, so let me give an example. Suppose we have the following codebase:

    
public class DaddyClass {
}
 
public class AChildClass extends DaddyClass {
 
    public void doIt() {
        repaint();
        doEast();
    }
 
}
 
public class AnotherChildClass extends DaddyClass {
 
    public void doIt() {
        repaint();
        doWest();
    }
 
}

Now, we apply the following command to the codebase:

    
abstract methods codebase

And the result is:

 
public class DaddyClass {
 
    public void doIt() {
        repaint();
    }
 
}
 
public class AChildClass extends DaddyClass {
 
    public void doIt() {
        super.doIt();
        doEast();
    }
 
}
 
public class AnotherChildClass extends DaddyClass {
 
    public void doIt() {
        super.doIt();
        doWest();
    }
 
}

Of course, I realize that IDEs can do this (to a certain extent), but I was just wondering if anyone ever developed an actual rigorous language for this kind of thing.

[ June 15, 2008: Message edited by: Wally Flint ]
[ June 15, 2008: Message edited by: Wally Flint ]