JavaZone 2008 - Agenda -

Bytecode Manipulation in the Real World

0ee5be41-2984-4b99-801e-cb3a2fbbdfb4

Intermediate
Core Java

Room: Lab 6
Timeslot: 17.09.08 10:15
Speaker: Geert Bevin

Abstract:

Byte code manipulation has become increasingly popular over the last years. It is used by JPA implementations, application servers, AOP libraries, web frameworks, monitoring systems, profilers, clustering solutions, scripting languages, workflow engines, and much more. In fact, most of today's applications will most probably rely on byte code manipulation, often even without realizing.

Application developers however seem to be overly careful and often frown upon byte code manipulation as an arcade art that is risky and difficult to understand. This presentation will show you that it's easier than you think. We'll go over concise examples that illustrate the concepts. Distinct patterns, coming from different domains, will give you ideas about adopting byte code manipulation for your own products. You'll learn arguments to reassure skeptics and see how the manipulation can plugged into your tool chain. We'll finish off with tips and tricks to write maintainable code with the ASM library.

After this session you'll see byte code manipulation as another tool in your arsenal and you'll have a good picture of how to start using it yourself.

Outline:

Introduction
What is byte-code manipulation?
Popular projects and what they use it for
Don't be afraid
Plugging in the manipulation
Code examples from open-source projects using ASM
Tips, tricks and gotchas
Q/A

Language:

English

Geert Bevin

Geert is a senior engineer at Terracotta Inc., the founder of Uwyn, and the creator of the RIFE project, which provides a full-stack Java Web application framework for quickly building maintainable applications. He also started or contributed to projects like Bla-bla List, OpenLaszlo, Drone, JavaPaste and Gentoo Linux. Geert has spoken at TSSJS US & Europe, JavaOne, NFJS, QCon, JavaZone, Øredev, Java In Action, EuroOSCON, Fosdem and JavaPolis. He has been nominated and accepted as a Java Champion, mainly for his work on the RIFE project and its support for native Java continuations.