Self Modifying Code

[blinky]

Re: Self Modifying Code

noone@uber.usac hoice.net wrote...[color=blue]
> Entropy <entropy@domain .invalid> scribbled on the stall wall:[color=green]
> > japcuh@gmail.co m wrote...[color=darkred]
> >> How do you write self modifying code in Java?[/color]
> >
> > If it's truly self-modifying, good luck debugging it.[/color]
>
> the simple answer is "you can't"...self modifying code hasn't really been
> feasible since the fortran 4 days...or maybe in C but that is still
> platform dependent.[/color]

I recall the capacity of LISP-like functional languages (ie, Scheme)
to dynamically generate new functions and apply them.

It was a long time ago when I sat in that class, however, and I've
never used such a language outside of the classroom.

[Eric Sosman]

Re: Self Modifying Code



Wiseguy wrote:[color=blue]
> Entropy <entropy@domain .invalid> scribbled on the stall wall:
>[color=green]
>>japcuh@gmail. com wrote...
>>[color=darkred]
>>>How do you write self modifying code in Java?[/color]
>>
>>If it's truly self-modifying, good luck debugging it.[/color]
>
>
> the simple answer is "you can't"...self modifying code hasn't really been
> feasible since the fortran 4 days...or maybe in C but that is still
> platform dependent.[/color]

Java "modifies itself" every time it loads a new class
definition. An important point is that the decision to load
a class is made at run time, not at a "link time."

A Java program can even generate an array of bytecodes
at run time, turn them into a class, and create objects of
that class; see defineClass() in java.lang.Class Loader.

--
Eric.Sosman@sun .com