| CSC448: Code Generation: Run-Time Storage for Objects I [75/133] | |
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In order to generate code for
ExpConstructorCall,
ExpFieldAccess, and ExpMethodCall,
we need to understand the run-time storage of objects.
Objects are stored on the heap. The stack only contains pointers to objects.
We are not concerned with memory deallocation or garbage collection. CSC548 covers garbage collection for OO languages.
If register eax contains the address of an
object on the heap, then an object of a clazz with 3 fields
has the following structure (using 4 words on the heap):
| Location | Value |
|---|---|
12(%eax)
|
field 3 |
8(%eax)
|
field 2 |
4(%eax)
|
field 1 |
0(%eax)
|
vtable for this object's clazz |