jroivas/ahead_class_vm

Ahead of time translator for class files

Ahead Class VM

Target is to create compiler, which translates JVM (Java Virtual Machine) runnable class files to C++ code.

Traditional Java VM is either intrepreted or JIT (Just-in-time) compiled. Aim of this tool is to translate generate class file to C++ code which can be compiled to native binary ahead of time.

These C++ files are then compiled to native code with any compatible C++ compiler. This way we hopefully can get native, and faster applications. While doing the translation, we may apply some optimizations on generated code.

Provides library for implementing basic structures and system classes, as well as translator itself.

Building

First install dependencies (for example on Ubuntu/Debian):

sudo apt-get install libgc-dev libjemalloc-dev

You need meson and ninja.

mkdir build
cd build
meson ..
ninja

Translating applications

After that you should have src/ahead_class_vm binary, which is the translator.

Next you need some class files. There's included one in examples folder. Compile it with java compliler:

cd ../examples
javac hello.java
cd ../build

# Rebuilds translator and generates C++ code, and compiles it with g++
../tools/translate.sh ../examples/hello.class

# Run translated application
./hello

State

Ahead Class VM is still experimental, and currently implements only basic functionality. Missing many opcodes, support for multiple class files, etc.

LICENSE

MIT, see LICENSE.