Patent ID: 6446084
Filing Date: 2002-09-03
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
A method for increasing performance of code executing on a virtual machine, comprising:receiving a class file for a class including a constant pool; executing an instruction on the virtual machine that generates a request to resolve an entry in the constant pool, wherein resolving the entry requires at least one lookup in the constant pool; examining a status indicator associated with the entry to determine if the entry has previously been resolved; if the entry has been previously resolved, returning a pointer to a structure associated with the entry, which was returned during a previous resolution of the entry; and if the entry has not been previously resolved, resolving the entry through at least one lookup to the constant pool to produce a pointer to the structure associated with the entry, replacing the entry in the constant pool with the pointer, wherein replacing the entry in the constant pool with the pointer does not require any additional memory, and modifying the status indicator associated with the entry to indicate that the entry contains a pointer.