interface injection in the VM

“Self-modifying code...” used to be a phrase always uttered (by us hackers) with tones of both admiration and dread. Operating systems and VMs are required to support it (always, in the loader). Aspect oriented programming has made a cottage industry of it. I still fear it, and when I hear customers ask for an API to edit classes in the JVM, I always reach for an alternative, a prescription subtitute for the illegal substance. Inteface injection is a good substitute for a surprisingly wide range of use cases; perhaps it can handle your use case for self-modifying code also.

Interface injection (in the JVM) is the ability to modify old classes just enough for them to implement new interfaces which they have not encountered before. Here are the key design points, in brief... [Read More]

Posted by jrose [JVM] ( May 05, 2008 10:01 PM ) Permalink | Comments[2]