Metascala: a tiny DIY JVM
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Metascala is a tiny metacircular Java Virtual Machine (JVM) written in the Scala programming language. Metascala is barely 3000 lines of Scala, and is complete enough that it is able to interpret itself metacircularly. Being written in Scala and compiled to Java bytecode, the Metascala JVM requires a host JVM in order to run.
The goal of Metascala is to create a platform to experiment with the JVM: a 3000 line JVM written in Scala is probably much more approachable than the 1,000,000 lines of C/C++ which make up HotSpot, the standard implementation, and more amenable to implementing fun features like continuations, isolates or value classes. The 3000 lines of code gives you:
- The bytecode interpreter, together with all the run-time data structures
- A stack-machine to SSA register-machine bytecode translator
A custom heap, complete with a stop-the-world, copying garbage collector
Implementations of parts of the JVM's native interface
Although it is far from a complete implementation, Metascala already provides the ability to run untrusted bytecode securely (albeit slowly), since every operation which could potentially cause harm (including memory allocations and CPU usage) is virtualized and can be controlled. Ongoing work includes tightening of the security guarantees, improving compatibility and increasing performance.
Scala e xchange 2013 haoyi li on metascala a tiny diy jvm from Skills Matter.
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- Real-time Systems with Spark Streaming and Kafka (in London on 30th September - 1st October 2019)
- CloudNative London 2019 (in London on 25th - 27th September 2019)
- Keynote Evening by Brian Ketelsen! (in London on 17th October 2019)
- Lightbend Scala Language - Professional (in London on 9th - 10th September 2019)
- Lightbend Scala Language - Expert (in London on 11th - 13th September 2019)
- Haskell eXchange 2019 (in London on 10th - 11th October 2019)
- Clojure eXchange 2019 (in London on 2nd - 3rd December 2019)
- London Java Community August Meetup (in London on 28th August 2019)
- London Java Community August (in London on 28th August 2019)
- The Last Frontier and Beyond (SkillsCast recorded in August 2019)
- Why API Design Matters, and Why Yours Sucks! (and mine sucks too!) (SkillsCast recorded in June 2019)
Thanks to our sponsors
Metascala: a tiny DIY JVM
Haoyi Li
Haoyi is a recent MIT Graduate. He spent his years in college trying to build websites, and wondered why it always felt like bashing your head against a brick wall.
Please log in to watch this conference skillscast.
Metascala is a tiny metacircular Java Virtual Machine (JVM) written in the Scala programming language. Metascala is barely 3000 lines of Scala, and is complete enough that it is able to interpret itself metacircularly. Being written in Scala and compiled to Java bytecode, the Metascala JVM requires a host JVM in order to run.
The goal of Metascala is to create a platform to experiment with the JVM: a 3000 line JVM written in Scala is probably much more approachable than the 1,000,000 lines of C/C++ which make up HotSpot, the standard implementation, and more amenable to implementing fun features like continuations, isolates or value classes. The 3000 lines of code gives you:
- The bytecode interpreter, together with all the run-time data structures
- A stack-machine to SSA register-machine bytecode translator
A custom heap, complete with a stop-the-world, copying garbage collector
Implementations of parts of the JVM's native interface
Although it is far from a complete implementation, Metascala already provides the ability to run untrusted bytecode securely (albeit slowly), since every operation which could potentially cause harm (including memory allocations and CPU usage) is virtualized and can be controlled. Ongoing work includes tightening of the security guarantees, improving compatibility and increasing performance.
Scala e xchange 2013 haoyi li on metascala a tiny diy jvm from Skills Matter.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:
- Bootstrapping the Scala.js Ecosystem (SkillsCast recorded in December 2014)
- Real-time Systems with Spark Streaming and Kafka (in London on 30th September - 1st October 2019)
- CloudNative London 2019 (in London on 25th - 27th September 2019)
- Keynote Evening by Brian Ketelsen! (in London on 17th October 2019)
- Lightbend Scala Language - Professional (in London on 9th - 10th September 2019)
- Lightbend Scala Language - Expert (in London on 11th - 13th September 2019)
- Haskell eXchange 2019 (in London on 10th - 11th October 2019)
- Clojure eXchange 2019 (in London on 2nd - 3rd December 2019)
- London Java Community August Meetup (in London on 28th August 2019)
- London Java Community August (in London on 28th August 2019)
- The Last Frontier and Beyond (SkillsCast recorded in August 2019)
- Why API Design Matters, and Why Yours Sucks! (and mine sucks too!) (SkillsCast recorded in June 2019)
Thanks to our sponsors
Metascala: a tiny DIY JVM
Haoyi Li
Haoyi is a recent MIT Graduate. He spent his years in college trying to build websites, and wondered why it always felt like bashing your head against a brick wall.