Virtual Machines

This book offers a unique insight into the building of virtual machines for sequential, object-oriented and parallel languages, and uses comparisons of different VMs to provide actual, practical examples. State transitions are used as a formal technique for the specification of virtual machines throughout and - in addition - transitions and state transitions relating to the general operation are included for specification of the virtual machine for the event-based system. Two virtual machines are defined using a simple sequential language, which is then generalised to include object and parall.

7.10 More Natural Compilation.

Title Page; Copyright Page; Preface; Acknowledgements; Table of Contents; 1 Introduction; 1.1 Introduction; 1.2 Interpreters; 1.3 Landin's SEeD Machine; 1.4 The Organisation of this Book; 1.5 Omissions; 2 VMs for Portability: BCPL; 2.1 Introduction; 2.2 BCPL the Language; 2.3 VM Operations; 2.4 The OeODE Machine; 2.5 OCODE Instructions and their Implementation; 2.5.1 Expression Instructions; 2.5.2 Load and Store Instructions; 2.5.3 Instructions Relating to Routines; 2.5 .4 Control Instructions; 2.5.5 Directives; 2.6 The Intcode/Cintcode Machine; 3 The Java Virtual Machine; 3.1 Introduction.

3.2 JVM Organisation: An Overview3.2.1 The stack; 3.2.2 Method areas; 3.2.3 The PC register; 3.2.4 Other structures; 3.3 Class Files; 3.4 Object Representation at Runtime; 3.5 Initialisation; 3.6 Object Deletion; 3.7 JVM Termination; 3.8 Exception Handling; 3.9 Instructions; 3.9.1 Data-manipulation instructions; 3.9.2 Control instructions; 3.9.3 Stack-manipulating instructions; 3.9.4 Support for object orientation; 3.9.5 Synchronisation; 3.10 Concluding Remarks; 4 DIY VMs; 4.1 Introduction; 4.2 ALEX; 4.2.1 Language Overview; 4.2.2 What the Virtual Machine Must Support.

4.2.3 Virtual Machine-S…