D vs VM-based platforms

Boris Kolar boris.kolar at globera.com
Wed May 2 04:22:57 PDT 2007


lubosh Wrote:
> Do we really need yet another layer between hardware and our code? 

Both JVM and CLR (.NET) are badly designed. Both platforms are too tightly tied to Java and C# languages. They are too bloated to provide sufficient security guarantees or performance gains.

Fundamentally, we don't need another layer between hardware and code. But since design of our typical hardware (like x86) is not very good either, VM can actually improve both performance (hardware sandboxing, for example, does not perform very well and doesn't allow enough granularity) and security (native code is extremely difficult to analyze from security point of view). VM then basically becomes what your hardware should be.

I'm generally in favor of lightweight VMs that hide hardware deficiencies and differences. Such VM can improve code compactness, allow for more aggressive inlining, provide security and reliability guarantees,... Another significant advantage is that it would greatly reduce complexity of generating code at runtime (and generally promote a more layered approach to computation, like Lisp-like features). 



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