Re: Static field constant initializers

[Archie Cobbs <archie@dellroad.org>]

Ondrej Lhotak wrote:
> javac translates constant values of static fields to static initializer
> methods with the name <clinit>, which are implicitly called when the
> class is first used. So, in the bytecode that Soot reads, the constant
> values are not directly available. For example, here is the Java source,
> Java bytecode, and Jimple for a simple class:
> 
> JAVA SOURCE:
> 
> public class Foo {
>     static int i = 5;
> }
> 
> JAVA BYTECODE:
> 
> Compiled from Foo.java
> public class Foo extends java.lang.Object {
>     static int i;
>     public Foo();
>     static {};
> }
> 
> Method Foo()
>    0 aload_0
>    1 invokespecial #1 <Method java.lang.Object()>
>    4 return
> 
> Method static {}
>    0 iconst_5
>    1 putstatic #2 <Field int i>
>    4 return

But aren't you making an assumption about the particular java
compiler being used?

I'm just reading from the JVM spec. It says a field can have a
"ConstantValue" attribute, which must be applied at class initialization
time before any static initializers are executed. So it seems a
different compiler could choose to use "ConstantValue" instead of
creating a "hidden" static initializer; if so, Soot would break if
such a compiler were used to generate the class files.

Also.. any word on when "LineNumber" attributes will be supported?

Thanks for a super-cool piece of software by the way :-)

-Archie

__________________________________________________________________________
Archie Cobbs     *     Packet Design     *     http://www.packetdesign.com