The Java Virtual Machine Specification, Java SE 8 Edition

The book provides complete, accurate, and detailed coverage of the Java Virtual Machine. It fully describes the new features added in Java SE 8, including the invocation of default methods and the class file extensions for type annotations and method parameters. The book also clarifies the interpretation of class file attributes and the rules of bytecode verification.

Frank Yellin is a former Staff Engineer at Sun Microsystems. He was an original member of the Java project and spent a decade working on runtime systems for interpreted and compiled languages. Prior to Sun, he worked on the compilation of Common Lisp at Lucid. He holds an A.B. in Applied Mathematics from Harvard and an M.S. in Computer Science from Stanford.

Gilad Bracha is the creator of the Newspeak programming language and a former Distinguished Engineer at Sun Microsystems. Prior to Sun, he worked on Strongtalk, the Animorphic Smalltalk System. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Utah.

Alex Buckley is the Specification Lead for the Java programming language and the Java Virtual Machine at Oracle. He holds a Ph.D. in Computing from Imperial College London.

Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 A Bit of History

1.2 The Java Virtual Machine

1.3 Organization of the Specification

1.4 Notation

1.5 Feedback

Chapter 2: The Structure of the Java Virtual Machine

2.1 The class File Format

2.2 Data Types

2.3 Primitive Types and Values

2.4 Reference Types and Values

2.5 Run-Time Data Areas

2.6 Frames

2.7 Representation of Objects

2.8 Floating-Point Arithmetic

2.9 Special Methods

2.10 Exceptions

2.11 Instruction Set Summary

2.12 Class Libraries

2.13 Public Design, Private Implementation

Chapter 3: Compiling for the Java Virtual Machine

 3.1 Format of Examples

3.2 Use of Constants, Local Variables, and Control Constructs

3.3 Arithmetic

3.4 Accessing the Run-Time Constant Pool

3.5 More Control Examples

3.6 Receiving Arguments

3.7 Invoking Methods

3.8 Working with Class Instances

3.9 Arrays

3.10 Compiling Switches

3.11 Operations on the Operand Stack

3.12 Throwing and Handling Exceptions

3.13 Compiling finally

3.14 Synchronization

3.15 Annotations

Chapter 4: The class File Format

4.1 The ClassFile Structure

4.2 The Internal Form of Names

4.3 Descriptors

4.4 The Constant Pool

4.5 Fields

4.6 Methods

4.7 Attributes

4.8 Format Checking

4.9 Constraints on Java Virtual Machine code

4.10 Verification of class  Files

4.11 Limitations of the Java Virtual Machine

Chapter 5: Loading, Linking, and Initializing

5.1 The Run-Time Constant Pool

5.2 Java Virtual Machine Startup

5.3 Creation and Loading

5.4 Linking

5.5 Initialization

5.6 Binding Native Method Implementations

5.7 Java Virtual Machine Exit

Chapter 6: The Java Virtual Machine Instruction Set

6.1 Assumptions: The Meaning of "Must"

6.2 Reserved Opcodes

6.3 Virtual Machine Errors

6.4 Format of Instruction Descriptions

Chapter 7: Opcode Mnemonics by Opcode

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