Inlining of Virtual Methods

We discuss aspects of inlining of virtual method invocations. First, we introduce a new method test to guard inlinings of such invocations, with a di erent set of tradeo s from the class-equality tests proposed previously in the literature. Second, we consider the problem of inlining virtual methods directly, with no guarding test, in dynamic languages such as Self or the JavaTM programming language, whose semantics prohibit a static identi cation of the complete set of modules that comprise a program. In non-dynamic languages, a whole-program analysis might prove the correctness of a direct virtual inlining. In dynamic languages, however, such analyses can be invalidatedby later class loading, and must therefore be treated as assumptions whose later violation must cause recompilation. In the past, such systems have required an on-stack replacement mechanism to update currently-executing invocations of methods containing invalidated inlinings. This paper presents analyses that allow so...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1999
• Where: ECOOP
• Authors: David Detlefs, Ole Agesen
• Keywords: Direct Virtual Inlining, ECOOP 1999, Inlining, Programming Languages, Virtual Method Invocations