JDK, JRE, and JVM

We must understand the differences between JDK, JRE, and JVM before proceeding
further to Java. See the brief overview of JVM here….

JVM
JVM (Java Virtual Machine) is an abstract machine. It is called a virtual machine because
it doesn't physically exist. It is a specification that provides a runtime environment in
which Java bytecode can be executed. It can also run those programs which are written in
other languages and compiled to Java bytecode.
JVMs are available for many hardware and software platforms. JVM, JRE, and JDK are
platform dependent because the configuration of each OS is different from each other.
However, Java is platform independent. There are three notions of the
JVM: specification, implementation, and instance.

The JVM performs the following main tasks:

• Loads code
• Verifies code
• Executes code
• Provides runtime environment

JVM (Java Virtual Machine) Architecture

JVM (Java Virtual Machine) is an abstract machine. It is a specification that provides
runtime environment in which java bytecode can be executed.
JVMs are available for many hardware and software platforms (i.e. JVM is platform
dependent).

Q)What is JVM?
It is:
1. A specification where working of Java Virtual Machine is specified. But
implementation provider is independent to choose the algorithm. Its
implementation has been provided by Oracle and other companies.
2. An implementation Its implementation is known as JRE (Java Runtime
Environment).
3. Runtime Instance Whenever you write java command on the command prompt to
run the java class, an instance of JVM is created.
What it does:
The JVM performs following operation:
• Loads code
• Verifies code
• Executes code
• Provides runtime environment
JVM provides definitions for the:
• Memory area
• Class file format
• Register set
• Garbage-collected heap
• Fatal error reporting etc.
•
JVM Architecture
Let's understand the internal architecture of JVM. It contains classloader, memory area,
execution engine etc.

1) Classloader
Classloader is a subsystem of JVM which is used to load class files. Whenever we run the
java program, it is loaded first by the classloader. There are three built-in classloaders in
Java.
1. Bootstrap ClassLoader: This is the first classloader which is the super class of
Extension classloader. It loads the rt.jar file which contains all class files of Java
Standard Edition like java.lang package classes, java.net package classes, java.util
package classes, java.io package classes, java.sql package classes etc.
2. Extension ClassLoader: This is the child classloader of Bootstrap and parent
classloader of System classloader. It loades the jar files located
inside $JAVA_HOME/jre/lib/ext directory.
3. System/Application ClassLoader: This is the child classloader of Extension
classloader. It loads the classfiles from classpath. By default, classpath is set to
 current directory. You can change the classpath using "-cp" or "-classpath" switch.
It is also known as Application classloader.
//Let's see an example to print the classloader name
public class ClassLoaderExample
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
// Let's print the classloader name of current class.
//Application/System classloader will load this class
Class c=ClassLoaderExample.class;
System.out.println(c.getClassLoader());
//If we print the classloader name of String, it will print null because it is an
//in-built class which is found in rt.jar, so it is loaded by Bootstrap classloader
System.out.println(String.class.getClassLoader());
}
}
Output: sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader@4e0e2f2a
null
These are the internal classloaders provided by Java. If you want to create your own
classloader, you need to extend the ClassLoader class.

2) Class(Method) Area
Class(Method) Area stores per-class structures such as the runtime constant pool, field
and method data, the code for methods.

3) Heap
It is the runtime data area in which objects are allocated.

4) Stack
Java Stack stores frames. It holds local variables and partial results, and plays a part in
method invocation and return.
Each thread has a private JVM stack, created at the same time as thread.
A new frame is created each time a method is invoked. A frame is destroyed when its
method invocation completes.

5) Program Counter Register

PC (program counter) register contains the address of the Java virtual machine instruction
currently being executed.

6) Native Method Stack

It contains all the native methods used in the application.
7) Execution Engine
It contains:
1. A virtual processor
2. Interpreter: Read bytecode stream then execute the instructions.
3. Just-In-Time(JIT) compiler: It is used to improve the performance. JIT compiles
parts of the byte code that have similar functionality at the same time, and hence
reduces the amount of time needed for compilation. Here, the term "compiler"
refers to a translator from the instruction set of a Java virtual machine (JVM) to
the instruction set of a specific CPU.

8) Java Native Interface

Java Native Interface (JNI) is a framework which provides an interface to communicate
with another application written in another language like C, C++, Assembly etc. Java
uses JNI framework to send output to the Console or interact with OS libraries.

JRE
JRE is an acronym for Java Runtime Environment. It is also written as Java RTE. The
Java Runtime Environment is a set of software tools which are used for developing Java
applications. It is used to provide the runtime environment. It is the implementation of
JVM. It physically exists. It contains a set of libraries + other files that JVM uses at
runtime.
The implementation of JVM is also actively released by other companies besides Sun
Micro Systems.

JDK
JDK is an acronym for Java Development Kit. The Java Development Kit (JDK) is a
software development environment which is used to develop Java applications
and applets. It physically exists. It contains JRE + development tools.
JDK is an implementation of any one of the below given Java Platforms released by
Oracle Corporation:
• Standard Edition Java Platform
• Enterprise Edition Java Platform
• Micro Edition Java Platform
The JDK contains a private Java Virtual Machine (JVM) and a few other resources such
as an interpreter/loader (java), a compiler (javac), an archiver (jar), a documentation
generator (Javadoc), etc. to complete the development of a Java Application.
JDK: Java Development Kit
JDK is an acronym for Java Development Kit. The Java Development Kit (JDK) is a
software development environment which is used to develop java applications and
applets. It physically exists. It contains JRE + development tools.
JDK is an implementation of any one of the below given Java Platforms released by
Oracle corporation:

• Standard Edition Java Platform

• Enterprise Edition Java Platform
• Micro Edition Java Platform

The JDK contains a private Java Virtual Machine (JVM) and a few other resources such
as an interpreter/loader (Java), a compiler (javac), an archiver (jar), a documentation
generator (Javadoc) etc. to complete the development of a Java Application.

Components of JDK
Following is a list of primary components of JDK:
This tool is used to run and debug Java applets without a web
browser.

apt: It is an annotation-processing tool.

extcheck: it is a utility that detects JAR file conflicts.

idlj: An IDL-to-Java compiler. This utility generates Java bindings

from a given Java IDL file.

jabswitch: It is a Java Access Bridge. Exposes assistive technologies on

Microsoft Windows systems.

java: The loader for Java applications. This tool is an interpreter and
can interpret the class files generated by the javac compiler.
Now a single launcher is used for both development and
deployment. The old deployment launcher, jre, no longer comes
with Sun JDK, and instead it has been replaced by this new java
loader.

javac: It specifies the Java compiler, which converts source code into
Java bytecode.
javadoc: The documentation generator, which automatically generates
documentation from source code comments

jar: The specifies the archiver, which packages related class

libraries into a single JAR file. This tool also helps manage
JAR files.

javafxpackager: It is a tool to package and sign JavaFX applications.

jarsigner: the jar signing and verification tool.

javah: the C header and stub generator, used to write native methods.

javap: the class file disassembler.

javaws: the Java Web Start launcher for JNLP applications.

JConsole: Java Monitoring and Management Console.

jdb: the debugger.

jhat: Java Heap Analysis Tool (experimental).

jinfo: This utility gets configuration information from a running Java

process or crash dump.

jmap: Oracle jmap - Memory Map- This utility outputs the memory
map for Java and can print shared object memory maps or heap
memory details of a given process or core dump.

jmc: Java Mission Control

jps: Java Virtual Machine Process Status Tool lists the instrumented
HotSpot Java Virtual Machines (JVMs) on the target system.

jrunscript: Java command-line script shell.

jstack: It is a utility that prints Java stack traces of Java threads

(experimental).
jstat: Java Virtual Machine statistics monitoring tool (experimental).

jstatd: jstat daemon (experimental).

keytool: It is a tool for manipulating the keystore.

pack200: JAR compression tool.

Policytool: It specifies the policy creation and management tool, which can
determine policy for a Java runtime, specifying which
permissions are available for code from various sources.

VisualVM: It is a visual tool integrating several command-line JDK tools

and lightweight [clarification needed] performance and memory
profiling capabilities

wsimport: It generates portable JAX-WS artifacts for invoking a web

service.

xjc: It is the part of the Java API for XML Binding (JAXB) API. It
accepts an XML schema and generates Java classes.