Toba: Java For Applications: A Way Ahead of Time (WAT) Compiler

Abstract

Toba is a system for generating efficient standalone Java applications. Toba includes a Java-bytecode-to-C compiler, a garbage collector, a threads package, and Java API support. Toba-compiled Java applications execute 1.5--4.2 times faster than interpreted and Just-In-Time compiled applications. 1 Introduction Java [GYT96] is an object-oriented language designed by Sun Microsystems that supports mobile code, i.e., executable code that runs on a variety of platforms. Although the language is interesting in its own right, Java's popularity stems from its promise of "write once, run anywhere." Mobile code proponents envision a future of location-independentcode moving about the Internet and running on any platform. Java's mobility is achieved by compiling its object classes into a distribution format called a class file. A class file contains information about the Java class, including bytecodes, an architecturally-neutral representation of the instructions associated with the class's ...