JVM

Role of the JVM

• It reads Java applications through the class loader and executes them together with the Java API

• The JVM acts as an intermediary between Java and the OS

  • It allows Java to be reusable regardless of the OS

• It performs the most important task: memory management, i.e., Garbage Collection

Java Program Execution Process

• When a program is executed, the JVM allocates memory needed by the program from the OS

  • The JVM divides this memory into several areas according to their purpose and manages them

• The Java compiler (javac) reads the Java source code (.java) and converts it into Java bytecode (.class)

• Class files are loaded into the JVM through the Class loader

• The loaded class files are interpreted through the Execution engine

• The interpreted bytecode is placed in the Runtime Data Areas where actual execution takes place

  • Runtime Data Areas: Memory space allocated from the OS to execute the program

During this process, the JVM performs management tasks such as Thread Synchronization and GC as needed