Disentangling virtual machine architecture

Haupt, Michael; Adams, Bram; Timbermont, Stijn; Gibbs, Celina; Coady, Yvonne; Hirschfeld, Robert

doi:10.1049/iet-sen.2007.0121

Cited by 8 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 24 publications

(27 reference statements)

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“…A similar study was done by Haupt et al [5] regarding the general approach for modularization of virtual machines. They find that there is no single strategy to decompose multiple VMs.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 87%

Modularity and conventions for maintainable concurrent language implementations

Marr

Nicolay

Cutsem

et al. 2012

Proceedings of the 2012 Workshop on Modularity in Systems Software

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In this paper, we review what we have learned from implementing languages for parallel and concurrent programming, and investigate the role of modularity. To identify the approaches used to facilitate correctness and maintainability, we ask the following questions: What guides modularization? Are informal approaches used to facilitate correctness? Are concurrency concerns modularized? And, where is language support lacking most?Our subjects are AmbientTalk, SLIP, and the RoarVM. All three evolved over the years, enabling us to look back at specific experiments to understand the impact of concurrency on modularity.We conclude from our review that concurrency concerns are one of the strongest drivers for the definition of module boundaries. It helps when languages offer sophisticated modularization constructs. However, with respect to concurrency, other language features like single-assignment are of greater importance. Furthermore, tooling that enables remodularization taking concurrency invariants into account would be of great value.

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“…A similar study was done by Haupt et al [5] regarding the general approach for modularization of virtual machines. They find that there is no single strategy to decompose multiple VMs.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 87%

Modularity and conventions for maintainable concurrent language implementations

Marr

Nicolay

Cutsem

et al. 2012

Proceedings of the 2012 Workshop on Modularity in Systems Software

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“…Haupt et al propose to disentangle VM architectures using an explicit architecture description language [12,13]. They use the VM Architecture Description Language to describe the interface of a module.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fine-grained modularity and reuse of virtual machine components

Wimmer

Brunthaler

Larsen

et al. 2012

Proceedings of the 11th Annual International Conference on Aspect-Oriented Software Development

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Modularity is a key concept for large and complex applications and an important enabler for collaborative research. In comparison, virtual machines (VMs) are still mostly monolithic pieces of software. Our goal is to significantly reduce to the cost of extending VMs to efficiently host and execute multiple, dynamic languages. We are designing and implementing a VM following the "everything is extensible" paradigm. Among the novel use cases that will be enabled by our research are: VM extensions by third parties, support for multiple languages inside one VM, and a universal VM for mobile devices.Our research will be based on the existing state of the art. We will reuse an existing metacircular Java TM VM and an existing dynamic language VM implemented in Java. We will split the VMs into fine-grained modules, define explicit interfaces and extension points for the modules, and finally re-connect them.Performance is one of the most important concerns for VMs. Modularity improves flexibility but can introduce an unacceptable performance overhead at the module boundaries, e.g., for inter-module method calls. We will identify this overhead and address it with novel feedback-directed compiler optimizations. These optimizations will also improve the performance of modular applications running on top of our VM.The expected results of our research will be not only new insights and a new design approach for VMs, but also a complete reference implementation of a modular VM where everything is extensible by third parties and that supports multiple languages.

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“…The work described herein is but a small part of a definitely more large-scale effort with the goal of supporting modularization in VM implementations in general [2,6,5]. At various levels of abstractions, various AOP mechanisms are employed.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards a DSAL for object layout in virtual machines

Timbermont

Adams

Haupt

2008

Proceedings of the 2008 AOSD Workshop on Domain-Specific Aspect Languages

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High-level language virtual machine implementations offer a challenging domain for modularization, not only because they are inherently complex, but also because efficiency is not likely to be traded for modularity. The central data structure used throughout the VM, the object layout, cannot be succinctly modularised by current aspect technology, as provisions for static crosscutting are not fine-grained enough. This position paper motivates the need for a declarative, domain-specific language for handling the tangled object layout concern. Based on observations in real-world VM implementations, we propose such a language, D4OL. It combines a two-level layout mapping, constraints and an engine to divide responsibilities between VM component and VM developers. We consider a domain-specific language like D4OL a necessary complement to behavioural aspect languages in order to modularize VM implementations.

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Disentangling virtual machine architecture

Cited by 8 publications

References 24 publications

Modularity and conventions for maintainable concurrent language implementations

Modularity and conventions for maintainable concurrent language implementations

Fine-grained modularity and reuse of virtual machine components

Towards a DSAL for object layout in virtual machines

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