Java and the JVM

Martin Schberl

Overview

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

Java and the JVM

History of a Young Java

1992 1995 1997 1998 1999 2000 2002 2002

Oak for a PDA on a SPARC (*7)

Official release as Java Internet picoJava Suns Java processor RTSJ specification start as JSR-01 split into J2SE and J2EE J2ME RTSJ final release first version of JOP ;-)
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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 Rich class library Part of the definition Standard GUI toolkit
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Library

Java features cont.

Built-in model for concurrency

Threads at the language level Synchronization Libraries are thread-safe No Pointer! Extensive compile-time checking Runtime checking Automatic memory management GC
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Safety

Java system overview

Java and the JVM

Java Technology

The Java programming language The library (JDK) The Java virtual machine (JVM)

Instruction set Binary format Verification

Java and the JVM

Java Primitive Data Types

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

double

64-bit floating-point (IEEE 754-1985)

Java and the JVM

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 Suns 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 Objects and Arrays Shared by all threads Garbage collected
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Heap

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
javap -c Hello

Dissassemble

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

}

Coding: Avoiding garbage

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

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Coding: Avoiding garbage

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

#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. Tim Lindholm and Frank Yellin. The Java Virtual Machine Specification. Addison-Wesley, 1999, JVMSpec.

JVM

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