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Bytecode basics

A first look at the bytecodes of the Java virtual machine

By Bill Venners, JavaWorld.com, 09/01/96

Page 5 of 10

Pushing local variables onto the stack

Local variables are stored in a special section of the stack frame. The stack frame is the portion of the stack being used by the currently executing method. Each stack frame consists of three sections -- the local variables, the execution environment, and the operand stack. Pushing a local variable onto the stack actually involves moving a value from the local variables section of the stack frame to the operand section. The operand section of the currently executing method is always the top of the stack, so pushing a value onto the operand section of the current stack frame is the same as pushing a value onto the top of the stack.

The Java stack is a last-in, first-out stack of 32-bit slots. Because each slot in the stack occupies 32 bits, all local variables occupy at least 32 bits. Local variables of type long and double, which are 64-bit quantities, occupy two slots on the stack. Local variables of type byte or short are stored as local variables of type int, but with a value that is valid for the smaller type. For example, an int local variable which represents a byte type will always contain a value valid for a byte (-128 <= value <= 127).

Each local variable of a method has a unique index. The local variable section of a method's stack frame can be thought of as an array of 32-bit slots, each one addressable by the array index. Local variables of type long or double, which occupy two slots, are referred to by the lower of the two slot indexes. For example, a double that occupies slots two and three would be referred to by an index of two.

Several opcodes exist that push int and float local variables onto the operand stack. Some opcodes are defined that implicitly refer to a commonly used local variable position. For example, iload_0 loads the int local variable at position zero. Other local variables are pushed onto the stack by an opcode that takes the local variable index from the first byte following the opcode. The iload instruction is an example of this type of opcode. The first byte following iload is interpreted as an unsigned 8-bit index that refers to a local variable.

Unsigned 8-bit local variable indexes, such as the one that follows the iload instruction, limit the number of local variables in a method to 256. A separate instruction, called wide, can extend an 8-bit index by another 8 bits. This raises the local variable limit to 64 kilobytes. The wide opcode is followed by an 8-bit operand. The wide opcode and its operand can precede an instruction, such as iload, that takes an 8-bit unsigned local variable index. The JVM combines the 8-bit operand of the wide instruction with the 8-bit operand of the iload instruction to yield a 16-bit unsigned local variable index.

The opcodes that push int and float local variables onto the stack are shown in the following table: