Patent ID: 7096466

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for selectively loading some but not all components of a class file into a virtual machine that can execute virtual machine instructions, the class file including an attributes section and a plurality of components including virtual machine instructions that can be executed by said virtual machine, said method comprising: checking a load-attribute in the attributes section of the class file to identify one or more selected components of said class file for loading into said virtual machine, wherein said one or more selected components have been identified in the load-attribute of the attributes section of the class file for loading into said virtual machine; loading said one or more selected components of said class file into said virtual machine; not loading one or mare other components of said class file into said virtual machine that are not identified for loading in the attributes section of the class file, whereby components of the class file may be selectively loaded into the virtual machine by reference to the attributes section of the class file; and wherein said load-attribute includes an attribute table in said class file, and wherein said attribute table includes one or more offsets of the one or more selected components of said class file.