Abstract: The present invention is directed to a system, method, and computer-readable medium for providing a highly efficient locking mechanism for an object's shared data. The locking mechanism is bound to an object during program execution (i.e. during run-time) when synchronization is first requested for the object's shared data. Thus, there are no changes to the actual code, either source code or binary code, which defines the object. A locking mechanism is bound to an object by defining a memory area within the object's header, which either contains the locking mechanism or a pointer to a locking mechanism. The locking mechanism remains bound to the object for the life of the object. Efficiency is gained by limiting the use of operating system semaphores (i.e. kernel semaphores). Operating system semaphores are not used unless blocking (i.e. contention) occurs. Rather, the locking mechanism bound to the object is used during non-blocking situations.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for creating benchmark programs for the analysis of java virtual machine implementations are implemented. Java applications and applets are compiled into an intermediate code referred to as byte code. The Java byte code forms the machine code for the Java Virtual Machine. The Java Virtual Machine running on top of a hardware platform translates the byte code into native machine code for execution on the hardware platform on which the Java Virtual Machine is running. The performance of a Java Virtual Machine is improved by the use of a so-called "just in time" (JIT) compiler that translates commonly occurring sequences of bytes codes in the native instruction sequences which are then stored for later execution. Critical to the performance of the JIT is the ability of the JIT to optimally compile for the most commonly occurring sequences of byte codes. The method and apparatus for creating benchmark programs provides a means for performance measurements with respect to such sequences.