The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
COMP 144 Programming Language Concepts
Spring 2003
The Java Virtual Machine
Stotts, Hernandez-Campos
The Java Virtual Machine Java Architecture
Java Programming Language Java Virtual Machine (JVM) Java API
Reference
The content of this lecture is based on Inside the Java 2 Virtual Machine by Bill Venners
Chapter 1Introduction to Java's Architecture
[Link]
Chapter 5 The Java Virtual Machine
[Link]
Interactive Illustrations
[Link]
The Java Programming Environment
Phases of Compilation
The Java Platform
The byte code generated by the Java front-end is an intermediate form
Compact
Platform-independent
The Class File
Java class file contains
Byte code for data and methods (intermediate form, platform independent) (remember byte code? ) Symbolic references from one class file to another Class names in text strings Decompiling/reverse engineering quite easy Field names and descriptors (type info)
Method names and descriptors (num args, arg types)
Symbolic refs to other class methods/fields, own methods/fields
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The Role of the Virtual Machime
Local or Remote
Class Loaders
Bootstrap (default) loader (in the JVM) User-defined (custom) loaders
Dynamic Class Loading
You don't have to know at compile-time all the classes that may ultimately take part in a running Java application. User-defined class loaders enable you to dynamically extend a Java app at run-time As it runs, your app can determine what extra classes it needs and load them
Custom loaders can download classes across a network (applets), get them out of some kind of database, or even calculate them on the fly.
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The Execution Engine
Back-end transformation and execution
Simple JVM
byte code interpretation Method byte codes are compiled into machine code the first time they are invoked The machine code is cached for subsequent invocation It requires more memory
Just-in-time compiler
Adaptive optimization
The interpreter monitors the activity of the program, compiling the heavily used part of the program into machine code It is much faster than simple interpretation, a little more memory The memory requirement is only slightly larger due to the 20%/80% rule of program execution (In general, 20% of the code is responsible for 80% of the execution)
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The Java Virtual Machine
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Shared Data Areas
Each JVM has one of each:
Method area: byte code and class (static) data storage Heap: object storage
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Thread Data Areas
Frame in Execution
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Stack Frames
Stack frames have three parts
Local variables Operand stack Frame data
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Stack Frame
Local Variables
class Example3a { public static int runClassMethod(int i, long l, float f, double d, Object o, byte b) { return 0; } public int runInstanceMethod(char c, double d, short s, boolean b) { return 0; } }
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Stack Frame
Operand Stack
Adding 2 numbers iload_0 iload_1 Iadd istore_2
Compiler can tell how many slots the op stack will need for a method
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Stack Frame
Frame Data
The stack frame also supports
Constant pool resolution Normal method return Exception dispatch
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Stack Frame
Frame Allocation in a Heap
class Example3c {
public static void addAndPrint() { double result = addTwoTypes(1, 88.88); [Link](result) ; } public static double addTwoTypes(int i, double d) { return i + d; }
}
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Stack Frame
Native Method
A simulated stack of the target language (e.g. C) is created for JNI
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The Heap
Class instances (objects) and arrays are stored in a single, shared heap Each Java application has its own heap
Isolation But a JVM crash will break this isolation
JVM heaps always implement garbage collection mechanisms
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Heap
Monolithic Object Representation
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The Heap Split Object Representation
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The Heap
Memory/Speed Tradeoff
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The Heap
Arrays as Objects
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Examples
HeapOfFish
[Link] Object allocation illustration
Eternal Math Example
[Link]
JVM execution, operand stack, illustration
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Reading Assignment
Inside the Java 2 Virtual Machine by Bill Venners
Ch 1 Ch 5 Illustrations
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