Saturday, July 21, 2001 05:54 PM
From JVM spec:
The Java virtual machine is the cornerstone of the Java and Java 2 platforms. It is the component of the technology responsible for its hardware- and operating system- independence, the small size of its compiled code, and its ability to protect users from malicious programs.
The Java virtual machine is an abstract computing machine. Like a real computing machine, it has an instruction set and manipulates various memory areas at run time.
The Java virtual machine knows nothing of the Java programming language, only of a particular binary format, the class file format. A class file contains Java virtual machine instructions (or bytecodes) and a symbol table, as well as other ancillary information.
You can check "The JavaTM Virtual Machine Specification
for any detail.