A hybrid just-in-time compiler for android: comparing JIT types and the result of cooperation

Abstract

The Dalvik virtual machine is the main application platform running on Google's Android operating system for mobile devices and tablets. It is a Java Virtual Machine running a basic trace-based JIT compiler, unlike web browser JavaScript engines that usually run a combination of both method and trace-based JIT types. We developed a method-based JIT compiler based on the Low Level Virtual Machine framework that delivers performance improvement comparable to that of an Ahead-Of-Time compiler. We compared our method-based JIT against Dalvik's own trace-based JIT using common benchmarks available in the Android Market. Our results show that our method-based JIT is better than a basic trace-based JIT, and that, by sharing profiling and compilation information among each other, a smart combination of both JIT techniques can achieve a great performance gain.