Annotated edit history of
ClassFile version 3, including all changes.
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DavidHallett |
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[ClassFile]s are the ByteCode form of [Java]. They are platform independant and one of the main reasons for the success of the Java language. They are normally distributed in JarFile, which is a specialisation of a [zip(1)] file. |
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StuartYeates |
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The ClassFile is built around a Constant Pool, which is rather like a symbol table in a [Fortran] library. |
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A Number of key limitations are introduced into Java systems by the [ClassFile] format, including: |
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# The per-class or per-interface constant pool is limited to 65535 entries |
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# The size of code per non-native, non-abstract method is limited to 65536 bytes |
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# The greatest number of local variables in the local variables array of a frame created upon invocation of a method is limited to 65535 |
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# The number of fields that may be declared by a class or interface is limited to 65535 |
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# The number of methods that may be declared by a class or interface is limited to 65535 |
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# The number of direct superinterfaces of a class or interface is limited to 65535 |
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DavidHallett |
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These issues are not usually a problem for hand-written code, but [CompilerCompiler]s often generate finite state machines which run into these. The canonical reference for these issues is: [http://java.sun.com/docs/books/vmspec/2nd-edition/html/ClassFile.doc.html] |
