Check out the new USENIX Web site.

USENIX Home . About USENIX . Events . membership . Publications . Students
VM '04 — Abstract

Pp. 13–28 of the Proceedings

MCI-Java: A Modified Java Virtual Machine Approach to Multiple Code Inheritance

Maria Cutumisu, Calvin Chan, Paul Lu, and Duane Szafron, University of Alberta

Abstract

Java has multiple inheritance of interfaces, but only single inheritance of code via classes. This situation results in duplicated code in Java library classes and application code. We describe a generalization to the Java language syntax and the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) to support multiple inheritance of code, called MCI-Java. Our approach places multiply-inherited code in a new language construct called an implementation, which lies between an interface and a class in the inheritance hierarchy. MCI-Java does not support multiply-inherited data, which can cause modeling and performance problems. The MCI-Java extension is implemented by making minimal changes to the Java syntax, small changes to a compiler (IBM Jikes), and modest localized changes to a JVM (SUN JDK 1.2.2). The JVM changes result in no measurable performance overhead in real applications.
  • View the full text of this paper in HTML and PDF.
    Click here if you have forgotten your password Until May 2005, you will need your USENIX membership identification in order to access the full papers. The Proceedings are published as a collective work, © 2004 by the USENIX Association. All Rights Reserved. Rights to individual papers remain with the author or the author's employer. Permission is granted for the noncommercial reproduction of the complete work for educational or research purposes. USENIX acknowledges all trademarks within this paper.

  • If you need the latest Adobe Acrobat Reader, you can download it from Adobe's site.
To become a USENIX Member, please see our Membership Information.

?Need help? Use our Contacts page.

Last changed: 3 May 2004 ch
Technical Program
VM '04 Home
USENIX home