Static fields in specialized classes

[Brian Goetz]

Actually we're all being silly.  Referencing the field at all will 
trigger initialization.  No extra kicking needed.

So if we have:

class Foo<any T> {
     static int x = 3;

     void foo() { ... x ... }
}

the reference to Foo.x in Foo<int> will trigger initialization of Foo, 
causing its static initializers to run.

On 10/15/2014 7:14 AM, Remi Forax wrote:
>
> On 10/15/2014 12:22 PM, Paul Sandoz wrote:
>> On Oct 14, 2014, at 11:45 PM, Brian Goetz <brian.goetz at Oracle.COM> wrote:
>>
>>>> - care might need to be taken with class initlization, static access
>>>> should trigger initialisation before that access occurs but does this
>>>> mean both Foo and Foo<int> should be initialized if access occurs
>>>> from the latter? (not sure if you already have this aspect covered)
>>> I think we have this one covered.  The compiler and specializer
>>> cooperate to have this effect.
>>>
>>> - All declarations of static members (fields and methods, including
>>> <clinit>) are stripped out during specialization.  So the static
>>> members exist only on the template (base) class.
>>>
>>> - All references to static members (whether through classes or
>>> through instances) are rewritten to directly reference the template
>>> class.
>>>
>>> - Specialized classes acquire a <clinit> that does "LDC
>>> template.class", idempotently forcing the template class to be
>>> initialized if it is not already.
>>>
>> I am not sure an LDC is sufficient to guarantee initialization of the
>> template class. See example program below.
>
> No, it doesn't.
> LDC do load the class but the VM is not required to trigger the class
> initialisation.
>
>>
>> It may be necessary to invoke UNSAFE.ensureClassInitialized after the
>> LDC of the class.
>>
>> If thats the case we could stuff a global UNSAFE instance in the
>> constant pool when anonymously defining the class (much like direct
>> method handles to fields).
>
> or to call an empty static method generated on purpose by javac.
>
>>
>> Paul.
>
> Rémi
>