ABSTRACT

Java has gained considerable attention in the IT-world. The Java language and 
its class library is widely used for application development in the context 
of the World Wide Web and elsewhere. The popularity of the Java language also 
makes it attractive for other areas such as Operating System development. Our 
Plurix project implements a Distributed Shared Memory (DSM) Operating System 
(OS) 
establishing a new memory consistency model based on restartable 
transactions and optimistic synchronization. The OS is developed with a 
proprietary Java compiler transforming Java sources into Intel protected mode 
code. Abandoning the hardware independence of Java eliminates performance loss 
and allows developing the total OS in Java. In this paper we shortly review 
the architecture of the Plurix Java Compiler (PJC). We discuss the compact 
memory layout of Plurix Java run-time structures in detail. Furthermore we 
present an elegant and efficient implementation of Java interfaces. Finally 
we show how PJC supports hardware-level programming.

KEYWORDS:
Java, Compiler, Run-Time Structures, Distributed Shared Memory, Operating System