Preface

Every time you compile a Java program to produce a class file, you've written a program for the Java virtual machine. This book is designed to take you to the next level: writing Java virtual machine (JVM) programs directly, without the aid of a Java compiler. A number of people would want to do this:

  • Advanced Java programmers

  • Security experts

  • Language designers and compiler writers

Advanced Java programmers want to know how the JVM works, in detail. Learning the details of the JVM will help improve your understanding of what a Java program does. Some messages from the JVM will be clearer after you understand how the JVM looks at your program. This understanding can also help you improve the performance of your programs.

Another reason for advanced Java programmers to learn JVM programming is that it will help you understand how JVM code moves. One of the most important uses of Java is to download applets from the Internet (or other sources). The JVM uses a class called ClassLoader to incorporate code from the Internet into the JVM. The ClassLoader has many other uses. The Java Foundation Classes use subclasses of ClassLoader to load new Look and Feel classes. Some databases use other subclasses of ClassLoader to incorporate queries written in Java directly into the database.

Security experts already know that the Java language is designed with security features in mind. Java promises to allow users to download applets from the Internet without fear. However, these promises seem empty until you know precisely how the JVM keeps the promises Java makes. This book discusses in detail how the JVM verification algorithm works. Knowing the verification algorithm will give you greater confidence in the security of the JVM.

This book will give you the tools you need to build your own secure systems on top of the JVM, by explaining both what promises the JVM makes (and how it keeps them) and what promises it doesn't make.

Language designers want to design new languages for the Java virtual machine. Although the Java language is excellent, perhaps the best general-purpose programming language ever created, there are still times when a different language does the job better. Sometimes these are general-purpose languages built into an application (like WordBasic in Microsoft Word or Emacs Lisp). Others are tiny, special-purpose languages (like SQL, regular expressions, or filters in PhotoShop).

This book describes compilers for two languages, Scheme and Prolog, which are very different from Java. These compilers generate JVM code and use a subclass of ClassLoader to load it into the system. By compiling into JVM code, these non-Java languages gain some of the "Write Once, Run Anywhere" properties of Java without losing the power of the original language. These compilers can be used as a starting point for compiling other languages. Other languages already implemented for the JVM include Tcl, ML, Eiffel, Python, and Ada.

As more and more programs are written in Java, there is an increasing need to implement new languages. By implementing these languages using the JVM, you can get the portability and performance of the JVM.



Programming for the Java Virtual Machine
Programming for the Javaв„ў Virtual Machine
ISBN: 0201309726
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 1998
Pages: 158
Authors: Joshua Engel

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