artima - Articles

Java Beyond the Browser: The Channel Metaphor

by Bill Venners, December 15, 1996 Submit comment

Although Java applets demonstrated a new way to think about software delivery and use, they brought with them some new constraints on software size, structure, and security. This article takes a look at Marimba Castanet, one company's approach to dealing with the constraints imposed by applets.

Objects and Arrays

by Bill Venners, December 15, 1996 Submit comment

All Java programs are compiled into class files that contain bytecodes, the machine language of the Java virtual machine. This article takes a look at the bytecodes that manipulate objects and arrays.

Logic and Integer Arithmetic

by Bill Venners, November 15, 1996 Submit comment

All Java programs are compiled into class files that contain bytecodes, the machine language of the Java virtual machine. This article takes a look at the bytecodes that implement the logical and integer arithmetic capabilities of Java.

Floating-Point Arithmetic

by Bill Venners, October 15, 1996 Submit comment

All Java programs are compiled into class files which contain bytecodes, the machine language of the Java virtual machine. This article takes a look at the bytecodes that implement the floating-point capabilities of Java.

Bytecode Basics

by Bill Venners, September 15, 1996 Submit comment

All Java programs are compiled into class files that contain bytecodes, the machine language of the Java virtual machine. Here's a first look at Java's bytecodes.

Java's Garbage-Collected Heap

by Bill Venners, August 15, 1996 Submit comment

A key feature of Java is its garbage-collected heap, which takes care of freeing dynamically allocated memory that is no longer referenced. Because the heap is garbage-collected, Java programmers don't have to explicitly free allocated memory. Here's a hands-on introduction to Java's garbage-collected heap.

The Class File Lifestyle

by Bill Venners, June 15, 1996 Submit comment

A key component of Java is the Java class file -- a precisely defined file format to which Java programs are compiled. The class file can be loaded by any Java Virtual Machine implementation and is the vehicle for the transmission of compiled Java across networks. Here's a hands-on introduction to the Java class file.

The Lean, Mean Virtual Machine

by Bill Venners, May 15, 1996 Submit comment

A key component of Java is the Java Virtual Machine -- a virtual computer, typically implemented in software on top of a "real" hardware platform and operating system, that runs compiled Java programs. This article is a hands-on introduction to the JVM.