Module 05 · Cross-paradigm engineering

Virtual machines and cross-language architecture

Programming paradigms converge in execution engines and runtime bridges. Compare ahead-of-time compilation with dynamic bytecode evaluation, implement a stack-based virtual machine, build a cycle-detecting mark-and-sweep garbage collector, and marshal data across foreign function interfaces.

4 lessons · 3 graded exercises·3 hours·advanced·Prerequisite: Dynamic runtimes and the Python object model

Compilation, bytecode interpretation, and virtual machines

20 min

The spectrum of execution models from native machine code compilation (C/C++) to bytecode interpreters (Python, JVM) and just-in-time (JIT) runtimes.

Building a stack-based bytecode virtual machine

30 min · exercise

Implementing an instruction decoding loop, evaluation stack, instruction pointer dispatch, local variable storage, and control flow jumps.

Garbage collection, cycle detection, and mark-and-sweep

25 min · exercise

Automatic memory management algorithms, reference counting failure on cyclic graphs, root set tracing, and mark-and-sweep collection.

Foreign function interfaces and cross-language bridges

25 min · exercise

Bridging compiled C libraries with dynamic runtimes, Application Binary Interface (ABI) conventions, type marshaling, and memory pinning.