Modeling multiple class loaders by a calculus for dynamic linking

  • Authors:

  • Sonia Fagorzi;Elena Zucca;Davide Ancona

  • Affiliations:

  • DISI - Università di Genova, Genova, Italy;DISI - Università di Genova, Genova, Italy;DISI - Università di Genova, Genova, Italy

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the 2004 ACM symposium on Applied computing
  • Year:
  • 2004

Quantified Score

Hi-index 0.00

Visualization

Abstract

In a recent paper we proposed a calculus for modeling dynamic linking independently of the details of a particular programming environment.Here we use a particular instantiation of this calculus to encode a toy language, called MCL, which provides an abstract view of the mechanism of dynamic class loading with multiple loaders as in Java.The aim is twofold. On one hand, we show an example of application of the calculus in modeling existing loading and linking policies, showing in particular that Java-like loading with multiple loaders can be encoded without exploiting the full expressive power of the calculus. On the other hand, we provide a simple formal model which allows a better understanding of Java-like loading mechanisms and also shows an intermediate solution between the rigid approach based only on the class path and that which allows arbitrary userdefined loaders, which can be intricate and error-prone.