How exactly does java compilation take place?

Question

Confused by java compilation process

OK i know this: We write java source code, the compiler which is platform independent translates it into bytecode, then the jvm which is platform dependent translates it into machine code.

So from start, we write java source code. The compiler javac.exe is a .exe file. What exactly is this .exe file? Isn't the java compiler written in java, then how come there is .exe file which executes it? If the compiler code is written is java, then how come compiler code is executed at the compilation stage, since its the job of the jvm to execute java code. How can a language itself compile its own language code? It all seems like chicken and egg problem to me.

Now what exactly does the .class file contain? Is it a abstract syntax tree in text form, is it tabular information, what is it?

can anybody tell me clear and detailed way about how my java source code gets converted in machine code.

Answer 1

Short answer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-in-time_compilation

Long answer: http://java.sun.com/docs/books/jvms/

Answer 2

The .class file contains bytecode which is sort of like very high-level Assembly. The compiler could very well be written in Java, but the JVM would have to be compiled to native code to avoid the chicken/egg problem. I believe it is written in C, as are the lower levels of the standard libraries. When the JVM runs, it performs just-in-time compilation to turn that bytecode into native instructions.

Answer 3

Isn't the java compiler written in java, then how come there is .exe file which executes it?

Where do you get this information from? The javac executable could be written in any programming language, it is irrelevant, all that is important is that it is an executable which turns .java files into .class files.

For details on the binary specification of a .class file you might find these chapters in the Java Language Specification useful (although possibly a bit technical):

• Virtual Machine Startup
• Loading of Classes and Interfaces

You can also take a look at the Virtual Machine Specification which covers:

• The class file format
• The Java Virtual Machine instruction set
• Compiling for the Java Virtual Machine

Answer 4

Well, javac and the jvm are typically native binaries. They're written in C or whatever. It's certainly possible to write them in Java, just you need a native version first. This is called "boot strapping".

Fun fact: Most compilers that compile to native code are written in their own language. However, they all had to have a native version written in another language first (usually C). The first C compiler, by comparison, was written in Assembler. I presume that the first assembler was written in machine code. (Or, using butterflies ;)

.class files are bytecode generated by javac. They're not textual, they're binary code similar to machine code (but, with a different instruction set and architechture).

The jvm, at run time, has two options: It can either intepret the byte code (pretending to be a CPU itself), or it can JIT (just-in-time) compile it into native machine code. The latter is faster, of course, but more complex.

Answer 5

related stackoverflow question:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1220914/in-which-language-java-compiler-jvm-and-java-is-written

Answer 6

The compiler was originally written in C with bits of C++ and I assume that it still is (why do you think the compiler is written in Java as well?). javac.exe is just the C/C++ code that is the compiler.

As a side point you could write the compiler in java, but you're right, you have to avoid the chicken and egg problem. To do this you'd would typically write one or more bootstrapping tools in something like C to be able to compile the compiler.

The .class file contains the bytecodes, the output of the javac compilation process and these are the instructions that tell the JVM what to do. At runtime these bytecodes have are translated to native CPU instructions (machine code) so they can execute on the specific hardware under the JVM.

To complicate this a little, the JVM also optimises and caches machine code produced from the bytecodes to avoid repeatedly translating them. This is known as JIT compilation and occurs as the program is running and bytecodes are being interpreted.

Answer 7

The compiler javac.exe is a .exe file. What exactly is this .exe file? Isn't the java compiler written in java, then how come there is .exe file which executes it?

The Java compiler (at least the one that comes with the Sun/Oracle JDK) is indeed written in Java. javac.exe is just a launcher that processes the command line arguments, some of which are passed on to the JVM that runs the compiler, and others to the compiler itself.

If the compiler code is written is java, then how come compiler code is executed at the compilation stage, since its the job of the jvm to execute java code. How can a language itself compile its own language code? It all seems like chicken and egg problem to me.

Many (if not most) compilers are written in the language they compile. Obviously, at some early stage the compiler itself had to be compiled by something else, but after that "bootstrapping", any new version of the compiler can be compiled by an older version.

Now what exactly does the .class file contain? Is it a abstract syntax tree in text form, is it tabular information, what is it?

The details of the class file format are described in the Java Virtual Machine specification.

Answer 8

OK i know this: We write java source code, the compiler which is platform independent translates it into bytecode,

Actually the compiler itself works as a native executable (hence javac.exe). And true, it transforms source file into bytecode. The bytecode is platform independent, because it's targeted at Java Virtual Machine.

then the jvm which is platform dependent translates it into machine code.

Not always. As for Sun's JVM there are two jvms: client and server. They both can, but not certainly have to compile to native code.

So from start, we write java source code. The compiler javac.exe is a .exe file. What exactly is this .exe file? Isn't the java compiler written in java, then how come there is .exe file which executes it?

This exe file is a wrapped java bytecode. It's for convenience - to avoid complicated batch scripts. It starts a JVM and executes the compiler.

If the compiler code is written is java, then how come compiler code is executed at the compilation stage, since its the job of the jvm to execute java code.

That's exactly what wrapping code does.

How can a language itself compile its own language code? It all seems like chicken and egg problem to me.

True, confusing at first glance. Though, it's not only Java's idiom. The Ada's compiler is also written in Ada itself. It may look as a "chicken and egg problem", but in truth it's only bootstrapping problem.

Now what exactly does the .class file contain? Is it a abstract syntax tree in text form, is it tabular information, what is it?

It's not Abstract Syntax Tree. AST is only used by tokenizer and compiler at compiling time to represent code in memory. .class file is like an assembly, but for JVM. JVM in turn is an abstract machine which can run specialized machine language - targeted only at virtual machine. In it's simplest, .class file has very similar structure to normal assembly. At the beginning there are declared all static variables, then comes some tables of extern function signatures and lastly the machine code.

If You are really curious You can dig into classfile using "javap" utility. Here is sample (obfuscated) output of invoking javap -c Main:

0:   new #2; //class SomeObject
3:   dup
4:   invokespecial   #3; //Method SomeObject."<init>":()V
7:   astore_1
8:   aload_1
9:   invokevirtual   #4; //Method SomeObject.doSomething:()V
12:  return

So You should have an idea already what it really is.

can anybody tell me clear and detailed way about how my java source code gets converted in machine code.

I think it should be more clear right now, but here's short summary:

• You invoke javac pointing to your source code file. The internal reader (or tokenizer) of javac reads your file and builds an actual AST out of it. All syntax errors come from this stage.

• The javac hasn't finished it job yet. When it has the AST the true compilation can begin. It's using visitor pattern to traverse AST and resolves external dependencies to add meaning (semantics) to the code. Finished product is saved as a .class file containing bytecode.

• Now it's time to run the thing. You invoke java with the name of .classfile. Now the JVM starts again, but to interpret Your code. The JVM may, or may not compile Your abstract bytecode into native assembly. The Sun's HotSpot compiler in conjunction with Just In Time compilation may do so if needed. The running code is constantly being profiled by the JVM and recompiled to native code if certain rules are met. Most commonly the hot code is the first to compile natively.

Edit: Without the javac one would have to invoke compiler using something similar to this:

%JDK_HOME%/bin/java.exe -cp:myclasspath com.sun.tools.javac.Main fileToCompile

As You can see it's calling Sun's private API so it's bound to Sun JDK implementation. It would make build systems dependent on it. If one switched to any other JDK (wiki lists 5 other than Sun's) then above code should be updated to reflect the change (since it's unlikely the compiler would reside in com.sun.tools.javac package). Other compilers could be written in native code.

So the standard way is to ship javac wrapper with JDK.

Answer 9

Windows doesn't know how to invoke Java programs before installing a Java runtime, and Sun chose to have native commands which collect arguments and then invoke the JVM instead of binding the jar-suffix to the Java engine.