Java Virtual Machine
<language, architecture> (JVM) A specification for software which interprets
Java programs that have been compiled into byte-codes, and usually stored in a ".class" file.
The JVM
instruction set is
stack-oriented, with variable instruction length.
Unlike some other instruction sets, the JVM's supports
object-oriented programming directly by including instructions for object
method invocation (similar to
subroutine call in other instruction sets).
The JVM itself is written in
C and so can be ported to run on most platforms.
It needs
thread support and
I/O (for dynamic class loading).
The Java byte-code is independent of the platform.
There are also some hardware implementations of the JVM.
Specification (http://www.javasoft.com/docs/books/vmspec/html/VMSpecTOC.doc.html).
Sun's Java chip (http://news.com/News/Item/0,4,9328,00.html).
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