System and method for executing complex if-then clauses

1. A method for structuring complex nested if-then statements in program code executing on data objects in a digital computer to facilitate computer programer maintenance and enhancement, and to improve program performance, of said program code, comprising:

organizing said if then statements as a plurality of logical case statements;

for each said case statement, providing a set of binary condition arrays;

determining a condition set for a data object;

executing on said, data object a case statement for which a condition array from said set of binary condition arrays matches said condition set for said data object; and

presenting said case statements at a computer output device to said computer programer for maintenance and enhancement of said program code.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

sorting said data objects on a logical ordering of attributes into a sorted data set including this data object and for each this data object its immediately previous data object in logical sort order; and

deriving from successive data objects said condition set, with each character of said condition set being a binary value respectively representing whether or not an attribute of this data object is identical to a corresponding attribute from said previous data object.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:

providing in each said case statement execution code common to processing of each data object having said condition set matching a condition array for said case statement.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

ordering said case statements for execution in logical order corresponding to said sort order.

5. A computer system for executing complex IF-THEN statements in program code to facilitate computer programer maintenance and enhancement, and to improve program performance, of said program code, comprising:

a digital computer including a conditions set element;

a data objects element; a conditions indicia set element; a conditions string element; and a plurality of case statements, each case statement having a respective binary conditions array;

a conditions indicia element for storing a set of conditions for each said data object;

a conditions string element for storing for each said data object a binary condition string representative of correspondence on attributes of successive data objects;

said computer comparing said binary condition strings of successive data objects with successive binary condition arrays to determine which of said case statements is to process said data object; and

a computer output device for presenting said case statements to said computer programer for maintenance and enhancement of said program code.

6. The system of claim 5 , further comprising:

said computer sorting said data objects on a logical order of said attributes; and

said case statements ordered according to said logical order.

7. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by a machine for structuring complex nested if-then statements in program code executing on data objects in a digital computer to facilitate computer programer maintenance and enhancement, and to improve program performance, of said program code, comprising:

a digital computer readable storage medium;

first program instructions for organizing said if-then statements as a plurality of logical case statements;

second program instructions, for each said case statement, for providing a set of binary condition arrays;

third program instructions for determining a condition set for a data object)

fourth program instructions for executing on said data object a case statement for which a condition array from said set of binary condition arrays matches said condition set for said data object;

fifth program instructions for presenting said case statements at a computer output device to said computer programer for maintenance and enhancement of said program code; and wherein

said first, second, third, fourth, and fifth program instructions are recorded on said digital computer readable storage medium.

8. The program storage device of claim 7 , further comprising:

sixth program instructions for sorting said data objects on a logical ordering of attributes into a sorted data set including this data object and for each this data object its immediately previous data object in logical sort order;

seventh program instructions for deriving from successive data objects said condition set, with each character of said condition set being a binary value respectively representing whether or not an attribute of this data object is identical to a corresponding attribute from said previous data object; and wherein

said sixth and seventh program instructions are recorded on said digital computer readable storage medium.

9. The program storage device of claim 8 , further comprising:

eighth program instructions for providing in each said case statement execution code common to processing of each data object having said condition set matching a condition array for said case statement; and wherein

said eighth program instructions are recorded on said digital computer readable storage medium.

10. The program storage device of claim 9 , further comprising:

ninth program instructions for ordering said case statements for execution in logical order corresponding to said sort order; and wherein

ninth program instructions are recorded on said digital computer readable storage medium.

11. A computer program product for controlling the operation of a digital computer to enhance computer programmer maintenance of program code initially executing complex nested if-then statements according to the method comprising:

organizing said if-then statements as a plurality of logical case statements;

for each said case statement, providing a set of binary condition arrays;

determining a condition set for a data object;

executing on said data object a case statement for which a condition array from said set of binary condition arrays matches said condition set for said data object;

presenting said case statements at a digital computer output device to a computer programmer to enable enhancement and maintenance of said program code;

receiving from said computer programmer modified case statements for executing enhanced program code.