SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR LOW OVERHEAD BOUNDARY CHECKING OF JAVA ARRAYS

摘要

An array boundary checking method is disclosed for providing hardware based array boundary checking in a Java environment. During the first machine cycle of a current array access command, an array reference value is loaded into a system-data address controller and an array boundary checker. Next, during the second machine cycle of the current array access command, an array index value is written to the system-data address controller and the array boundary checker. Also during the second machine cycle of the current array access command, a maximum array index value is read from the Java array and written to the array boundary checker. The array boundary checker utilizes these values to determine the validity of the current array access command. Finally, during the third machine cycle an array value is accessed in memory. In the present invention the array value is only accessed when the current array access command is valid.