Platform independent dynamic Java virtual machine analysis: the Java Grande Forum benchmark suite

In this paper we present a platform independent analysis of the dynamic profiles of Java programs when executing on the Java Virtual Machine. The Java programs selected are taken from the Java Grande Forum benchmark suite and five different Java‐to‐bytecode compilers are analysed. The results presented describe the dynamic instruction usage frequencies, as well as the sizes of the local variable, parameter and operand stacks during execution on the JVM. These results, presenting a picture of the actual (rather than presumed) behaviour of the JVM, have implications both for the coverage aspects of the Java Grande benchmark suites, for the performance of the Java‐to‐bytecode compilers and for the design of the JVM