The architecture of a memory management unit for object-oriented systems

Abstract

We describe the rationale for the design and the architecture of a Memory Management Unit (MMU) for object-oriented systems. The CAMOES¹ MMU supports arbitrary size protected objects mapped on a single virtual address space. Support for object invocations is provided in the form of an operations cache closely coupled with the addressing hardware. The MMU only executes in hardware those functions crucial for performance; other functions and, namely, the management of internal buffers and associative memories, and object management policies, are handled in software. This functional organisation is suitable for current generation processors based on RISC principles and is able to support open multi-lingual environments.

References

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Index Terms

• Computer systems organization

  • Dependable and fault-tolerant systems and networks

• General and reference

  • Cross-computing tools and techniques

    • Performance

• Hardware

  • Integrated circuits

    • Semiconductor memory

• Information systems

  • Information storage systems

    • Storage management

• Networks

  • Network performance evaluation

• Software and its engineering

  • Software notations and tools

    • General programming languages

      • Language types

        • Object oriented languages

  • Software organization and properties

    • Contextual software domains

      • Operating systems

        • File systems management

        • Memory management