Java and the JVM

Martin Schöberl
Overview
 History and Java features
 Java technology
 The Java language
 A first look into the JVM
 Disassembling of .class files

Java and the JVM 2

History of a Young Java
 1992 Oak for a PDA on a SPARC (*7)
 1995 Official release as Java – Internet
 1997 picoJava – Sun’s Java processor
 1998 RTSJ specification start as JSR-01
 1999 split into J2SE and J2EE
 2000 J2ME
 2002 RTSJ final release
 2002 first version of JOP ;-)
Java and the JVM 3
Java features
 Simple and object oriented
 Look and feel of C
 Simplified object model with single
inheritance
 Portability
 Java compiler generates bytecodes
 Runtime systems for various platforms
 Size and behavior of basic data types defined
 Write once, run/debug anywhere

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Java features cont.
 Availability
 Windows, Linux, Solaris,…
 Embedded systems
 Compiler and runtime are free
 Free IDEs: Eclipse, Netbeans
 Library
 Rich class library
 Part of the definition
 Standard GUI toolkit
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Java features cont.
 Built-in model for concurrency
 Threads at the language level
 Synchronization
 Libraries are thread-safe
 Safety
 No Pointer!
 Extensive compile-time checking
 Runtime checking
 Automatic memory management – GC
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Java system overview

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Java Technology
 The Java programming language
 The library (JDK)
 The Java virtual machine (JVM)
 Instruction set
 Binary format
 Verification

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Java Primitive Data Types
boolean either true or false
char 16-bit Unicode character (unsigned)
byte 8-bit integer (signed)
short 16-bit integer (signed)
int 32-bit integer (signed)
long 64-bit integer (signed)
float 32-bit floating-point (IEEE 754-1985)
double 64-bit floating-point (IEEE 754-1985)

Java and the JVM 9

Objects
 Everything belongs to an object (or a
class)

No global variables
 Namespace for objects
 Single inheritance
 Interfaces
 Allocated on the heap
 Shared among threads
 No free() – garbage collector
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What is a Virtual Machine?
 A virtual machine (VM) is an
abstract computer architecture
 Software on top of a real hardware
 Can run the same application on
different machines where the VM is
available

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The Java Virtual Machine
 An abstract computing machine
that executes bytecode programs
 An instruction set and the meaning of
those instructions – the bytecodes
 A binary format – the class file format
 An algorithm to verify the class file

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JVM cont.
 Runtime environment for Java
 Implementation NOT defined
 Runs Java .class files
 Has to conform to Sun‘s
specification

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Implementations of the
JVM
 Interpreter
 Simple, compact
 Slow
 Just-in-time compilation
 State-of-the-art for desktop/server
 Too resource consuming in embedded
systems
 Batch compilation
 Hardware implementation
 Our topic!
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JVM Data Types
reference Pointer to an object or array
int 32-bit integer (signed)
long 64-bit integer (signed)
float 32-bit floating-point (IEEE 754-1985)
double 64-bit floating-point (IEEE 754-1985)
 No boolean, char, byte, and short types
 Stack contains only 32-bit and 64-bit data
 Conversion instructions

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Memory Areas for the JVM
 Method area
 Class description
 Code
 Constant pool
 Heap
 Objects and Arrays
 Shared by all threads
 Garbage collected

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Memory Areas for the JVM
 Stack
 Thread private
 Logical stack that contains:

Invocation frame

Local variable area

Operand stack
 Not necessary a single stack
 Local variables and operand stack are
accessed frequently
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JVM Instruction Set
 32 (64) bit stack machine
 Variable length instruction set
 Simple to very complex
instructions
 Symbolic references
 Only relative branches

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JVM Instruction Set
 Load and store
 Arithmetic
 Type conversion
 Object creation and manipulation
 Operand stack manipulation
 Control transfer
 Method invocation and return
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Dissassembling Java
 Compile
 javac Hello.java
 Run
 java Hello
 Dissassemble
 javap -c Hello

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A Bytecode Example
public class X { public static void
main(java.lang.String[]);
public static void Code:
main(String[] args) { 0: iconst_1
add(1, 2); 1: iconst_2
} //Method add:(II)I
2: invokestatic #2;
5: pop
public static int
6: return
add(int a, int b) {
return a+b;
public static int
} add(int,int);
} Code:
0: iload_0
1: iload_1
2: iadd
3: ireturn

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Coding: Avoiding garbage

System.out.println("Result = "+i);
getstatic #3; // Field System.out:Ljava/io/PrintStream;
new #4; // class StringBuffer
dup
invokespecial #5; // StringBuffer."<init>":()V
ldc #6; // String Result =
invokevirtual #7; // StringBuffer.append:(LString;)LStringBuffer
iload_1
invokevirtual #8; // StringBuffer.append:(I)LStringBuffer;
invokevirtual #9; // StringBuffer.toString:()LString;
invokevirtual #10;// PrintStream.println:(LString;)V

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Coding: Avoiding garbage
System.out.print("Result = ");
System.out.println(i);

getstatic #3; //Field System.out:Ljava/io/PrintStream;

ldc #4; //String Result =
invokevirtual #5; //Method PrintStream.print:(LString;)V
getstatic #3; //Field System.out:LPrintStream;
iload_1
invokevirtual #6; //Method PrintStream.println:(I)V

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Java for Embedded
Systems?
+ Simpler than C/C++
+ Safer than C/C++
+ Threads are part of the language
- Interpreting JVM is slow
- JIT needs a lot of memory
- GC and real-time?

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Summary Java/JVM
 Java language definition
 Class library
 The Java virtual machine (JVM)
 An instruction set – the bytecodes
 A binary format – the class file
 An algorithm to verify the class file

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Summary Java Features
 Safe OO Language
 No pointers
 Type-safety
 Garbage Collection
 Built in model for concurrency
 Platform independent
 Very rich standard library

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More Information
 Java
 James Gosling, Bill Joy, Guy Steele, and
Gilad Bracha. The Java Language
Specification, Addison-Wesley, 2000,
JavaSpec.
 JVM
 Tim Lindholm and Frank Yellin. The Java
Virtual Machine Specification. Addison-
Wesley, 1999, JVMSpec.

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