Modular Design for the Java Virtual Machine Architecture (1999)
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BibTeX
@MISC{Börger99modulardesign,
author = {Egon Börger and Wolfram Schulte},
title = {Modular Design for the Java Virtual Machine Architecture},
year = {1999}
}
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Abstract
We provide a modular high-level definition of the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) architecture. We decompose the machine into three components -- the loader, the bytecode verifier and the interpreter -- each for a hierarchy of four stepwise refined JVM program layers. These layers naturally correspond to the structuring of Java into sublanguages with imperative, procedural, object-oriented and exception handling features. We give our definitions in terms of Abstract State Machines, which have a simple but precise semantic foundation. As a consequence our JVM models can be verified and validated by machine supported mathematical analysis and standard simulation techniques. Furthermore, due to their abstract nature, the models can serve as a platform independent basis for the evaluation and comparison of different JVM implementations.
