This chapter provides readers with an overview of Java Virtual Machine (JVM) structure and behavior, which are more complex than you might expect.
A JVM is just an executor of instructions according to the coded logic. It also finds and loads into the memory the .class files requested by the application, verifies them, interprets the bytecodes (that is, it translates them into platform-specific binary code), and passes the resulting binary code to the central processor (or processors) for execution. It uses several service threads in addition to the application threads. One of the service threads, called garbage collection (GC), performs an important mission of releasing the memory from unused objects.
After reading this chapter, readers will better understand what constitutes Java application execution, Java processes inside JVM, GC, and...
