class gc

[Tom Tromey]

>>>>> "Jon" == Jon Olson <olson@mmsi.com> writes:

Jon> It would be a big win to be able to allocate static/final tables
Jon> in classes such as `java/lang/Character.class'.  This monster
Jon> merely contains initializations of a few static arrays, and in C
Jon> or C++ would be tiny.

In our library, the Character tables and some methods are in C++.
Still, your point holds in general.

Jon> It may be necessary for `gcj' to compile java source instead of
Jon> class files to properly initialize static/final tables in an
Jon> efficient way.

This is how we compile our runtime; I believe it results in better
code (though I haven't really run any tests).  It might be possible to
change the class file reader to recognize how java->class compilers
generate code for initializers and turn that back into efficient
initializations.

Tom