A formal introduction to the compilation of Java
Stephan Diehl · Software Practice and Experience · 1998
The term abstract machine is widely accepted to denote intermediate target languages and related architectures which serve as an intermediate stage in compiling programming languages. In this paper we explain how a considerable subset of Java is translated into Byte-Code for the Java Virtual Machine, an abstract machine used as a target for Java compilation. Using formal and precise notation we present the language concepts, the related byte-code instructions and the compilation schemes. Hitherto none of the existing literature on the JVM1,2 describes how compilation is done, but present the JVM in isolation. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.