James Power

The Java Virtual Machine

• JVM runtime behaviour

• JVM architecture

• .class file format

• JVM instruction set

SE209 JVM - 1
 James Power

Main source:

• The JavaT M Virtual Machine Specification (2nd Ed)

• [Link]

SE209 JVM - 2
 James Power

JVM Runtime Behaviour

• VM startup

• Class Loading/Linking/Initialisation

• Instance Creation/Finalisation

• Unloading Classes

• VM exit

SE209 JVM - 3
 James Power

VM Startup and Exit

Startup

• Load, link, initialise class containing main()

• Invoke main() passing it the command-line arguments

• Exit when:
– all non-daemon threads end, or
– some thread explicitly calls exit() method

SE209 JVM - 4
 James Power

Class Loading

• Find the binary code for a class and create a corresponding Class object

• Done by a class loader - bootstrap, or create your own

• Optimise: prefetching, group loading, caching

• Each class-loader maintains its own namespace

• Errors include: ClassFormatError, UnsupportedClassVersionError, ClassCircularityError,

SE209 JVM - 5
 James Power

Class Loaders

• System classes are automatically loaded by the bootstrap class loader

• To see which: java -verbose:class [Link]

• Arrays are created by the VM, not by a class loader

• A class is unloaded when its class loader becomes unreachable (bootstrap class
loader is never unreachable)

SE209 JVM - 6
 James Power

Class Linking - 1. Verification

• Extensive checks that the .class file is valid

• This is a vital part of the JVM security model

• Needed because of possibility of:

• Checks are independent of compiler and language

More later...

SE209 JVM - 7
 James Power

Class Linking - 2. Preparation

• Create static fields for a class

• Set these fields to the standard default values (N.B. not explicit initialisers)

• Construct method tables for a class

• ... and anything else that might improve efficiency

SE209 JVM - 8
 James Power

Class Linking - 3. Resolution

• Most classes refer to methods/fields from other classes

• Resolution translates these names into explict references

• Also checks for field/method existence and whether access is allowed

SE209 JVM - 9
 James Power

Class Initialisation

Happens once just before first instance creation, or first use of static variable.

• Initialise the superclass first!

• Execute (class) static initialiser code

• Execute explicit initialisers for static variables

• May not need to happen for use of final static variable

Completed before anything else sees this class

SE209 JVM - 10
 James Power

Instance Creation/Finalisation

• Instances are created using new, or newInstance() from class Class

• Instances of String may be created (implicitly) for String literals

• Process:
1. Allocate space for all the instance variables (including the inherited ones),
2. Initialise them with the default values
3. Call the appropriate constructor (do parent’s first)

• finalize() called just before garbage collector takes the object (so timing is
unpredictable)

SE209 JVM - 11
 James Power

JVM Architecture

The internal runtime structure of the JVM consists of:

• One: (i.e. shared by all threads)

• For each thread, a:

SE209 JVM - 12
 James Power

The Method Area

• Contains one entry for each class

• Lists all details relating to that class

• Includes the constant pool

• Contains the code for the methods

• May grow/shrink as classes are loaded/unloaded

Shared by all threads.

SE209 JVM - 13
 James Power

The Heap

• One entry for each object

• Increases with each instance creation

• Decreases with garbage collection (mechanism not specified)

• Object information: instance field values, pointer to class, locking info, virtual
method table(?)

Shared by all threads.

SE209 JVM - 14
 James Power

Java Stack

• JVM pushes and pops frames onto this stack

• Each frame corresponds to the invocation of a method

• Call a method → push its frame onto the stack

• Return from a method → pop its frame

• Frame holds parameter values, local variables, intermediate values etc.

SE209 JVM - 15