Reducing the Memory Complexity of Type-Inference Algorithms

In the Java Virtual Machine, the byte-code verifier checks low-level security properties that ensure that the downloaded code cannot bypass the virtual machine’s security mechanisms. One of the statically ensured properties is type safety. The type-inference phase is the overwhelming resource-consuming part of the verification process. This paper addresses the RAM bottleneck met while verifying mobile code in memory-constrained environments such as smart-cards. We propose to modify the algorithm in a way that significantly reduces memory consumption.