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Maxine: An approachable virtual machine for, and in, java

Authors:

Christian Wimmer,

Michael L. Van De Vanter,

Laurent Daynès,

Douglas SimonAuthors Info & Claims

ACM Transactions on Architecture and Code Optimization (TACO), Volume 9, Issue 4

Article No.: 30, Pages 1 - 24

https://doi.org/10.1145/2400682.2400689

Published: 20 January 2013 Publication History

Abstract

A highly productive platform accelerates the production of research results. The design of a Virtual Machine (VM) written in the Java™ programming language can be simplified through exploitation of interfaces, type and memory safety, automated memory management (garbage collection), exception handling, and reflection. Moreover, modern Java IDEs offer time-saving features such as refactoring, auto-completion, and code navigation. Finally, Java annotations enable compiler extensions for low-level “systems programming” while retaining IDE compatibility. These techniques collectively make complex system software more “approachable” than has been typical in the past.

The Maxine VM, a metacircular Java VM implementation, has aggressively used these features since its inception. A co-designed companion tool, the Maxine Inspector, offers integrated debugging and visualization of all aspects of the VM's runtime state. The Inspector's implementation exploits advanced Java language features, embodies intimate knowledge of the VM's design, and even reuses a significant amount of VM code directly. These characteristics make Maxine a highly approachable VM research platform and a productive basis for research and teaching.

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Index Terms

Maxine: An approachable virtual machine for, and in, java
1. Software and its engineering

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cover image ACM Transactions on Architecture and Code Optimization

ACM Transactions on Architecture and Code Optimization Volume 9, Issue 4

Special Issue on High-Performance Embedded Architectures and Compilers

January 2013

876 pages

ISSN:1544-3566

EISSN:1544-3973

DOI:10.1145/2400682

Issue’s Table of Contents

Copyright © 2013 ACM.

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Publication History

Published: 20 January 2013

Accepted: 01 September 2012

Revised: 01 September 2012

Received: 01 May 2012

Published in TACO Volume 9, Issue 4

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