Swift: a register-based JIT compiler for embedded JVMs

Code quality and compilation speed are two challenges to JIT compilers, while selective compilation is commonly used to tradeoff these two issues. Meanwhile, with more and more Java applications running in mobile devices, selective compilation meets many problems. Since these applications always have flat execution profile and short live time, a lightweight JIT technique without losing code quality is extremely needed. However, the overhead of compiling stack-based Java bytecode to heterogeneous registerbased machine code is significant in embedded devices. This paper presents a fast and effective JIT technique for mobile devices, building on a register-based Java bytecode format which is more similar to the underlying machine architecture. Through a comprehensive study on the characteristics of Java applications, we observe that virtual registers used by more than 90% Java methods can be directly fulfilled by 11 physical registers. Based on this observation, this paper proposes S...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2012
• Where: VEE
• Authors: Yuan Zhang, Min Yang, Bo Zhou, Zhemin Yang, Weihua Zhang, Binyu Zang
• Keywords: Java Bytecode Format, Physical Registers, Selective Compilation, VEE 2012, Virtualization