over-eager verification

Wed Mar 6 11:02:00 GMT 2002

Andrew Haley wrote:
> Sure, but a Java program might need to prompt an operator immediately
> when an invalid class is loaded rather than a few weeks later in the
> middle of the night when the operator is asleep.

Yes, and a Java program might want to throw an exception immmediately
if there is a bug in it, rather than when the buggy section of code is
executed.
I find this argument dubious. It is reasonable to have an option to
"verify eagerly (include load all referenced classes eagers)", but I
don't think it is a good default.
Eager verification is primarily to catch bugs in the compiler or
the verifier itself. It does not catch bugs in the actual code
being verified, since a correct compiler should never emit
non-verifiable code. The compiler and verifier will see a lot of
testing, even if we don't verify eagerly.
-- 
	--Per Bothner
per@bothner.com http://www.bothner.com/per/