Thread: Can someone tell me why N900 and not Android?
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johnkzin is offline johnkzin
2009-11-03 , 01:35
Posts: 1,878 | Thanked: 646 times | Joined on Sep 2007 @ San Jose, CA
#141
Originally Posted by Benson View Post
Dalvik is two things -- a class library (analogous to a J2SE or J2ME implementation -- and Dalvik's doesn't match either), which is where your statement holds true, and the bytecode interpreter, which differs in less clear-cut ways.

The bytecode interpreter differs from many Java implementations because it _is_ a pure interpreter, not a JIT compiler. Also, and most significantly IMO, it's a register-based (instead of stack-based) VM. If you're not familiar with this, think RISC/CISC.

Aah. I didn't realize Dalvik's VM was that different. I thought that, like the libraries, it was also a subset. (and, yes, I understand register based vs stack based ... I cut my assembly teeth on VAX-11 assembler ... and, RISC vs CISC isn't exactly register vs stack ... there were pre-RISC stack based architectures, and I think (but am not sure) that there are register based RISC architectures, as well)
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