On 7/11/05, Tim Ellison <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Recently, within IBM, we have been defining the interface between IBM's
> class library and the J9 VM. We deliberately haven't looked at the GNU
> Classpath/VM interface specification.
>
> The principal goals are to enable the class libraries to be hosted on
> different versions of a virtual machine, and potentially different
> virtual machines, without sacrificing performance or introducing
> complexity. In our design, this results in a number of class types
> being (architecturally) labeled as 'kernel classes'. Kernel classes can
> be thought of as part of the VM and have to be written by the
> VM-provider. With a thoughtful set of kernel classes the API from class
> library to the VM, and from VM to class libraries, can be kept
> remarkably small. Our complete VM/Classlibrary interface comprises a
> short C header (vmi.h), about 18 classes defined by 1.4 public API
> (java.lang, java.lang.reflect, ...), and two classes that are
> specifically to support the interface. We are working on necessary
> extensions to this interface for 1.5.
>
> If there is an interest, we can share the interface we are using and
> evolve it as part of harmony.
Tim,
It would be good if you would go ahead and post the VM/Classlibrary
interface you describe above on harmony wiki.
Thanks
Weldon
> It would be great if we could share
> experiences with the GNU Classpath VM interface in such a way that the
> Harmony interface was suitable for the widest variety of VMs and class
> libraries.
>
> Regards,
> Tim
>
> --
>
> Tim Ellison ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
> IBM Java technology centre, UK.
>
>
