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Return to Register-Based Virtual Machine (VM), Virtualization, Virtual Machine (VM), Stack Machine

A stack-based virtual machine (VM) is a type of virtual machine that uses a stack to manage execution state, perform arithmetic operations, and call functions. Unlike register-based VMs, which use a set of registers for these purposes, stack-based VMs push operands onto a stack, and operations are performed on these operands at the top of the stack. This approach simplifies the VM's instruction set and can make the VM easier to implement and port to different platforms. Stack-based VMs are widely used in programming language interpreters, bytecode execution engines, and embedded systems.

Below are examples of stack-based virtual machines:

Stack-based virtual machines are an essential part of software development, offering an abstract layer for executing programs. Here are several detailed examples:

• Description: WebAssembly is a stack-based virtual machine designed to run binary code in web browsers, enabling high-performance applications on the web.
• GitHub: https://github.com/WebAssembly
• Official Website: https://webassembly.org/
• Documentation: https://webassembly.github.io/spec/

• Description: The JVM is a stack-based execution environment that enables running Java bytecode, making Java applications platform-independent.
• GitHub: [N/A N/A] (Note: The JVM's source code is managed by Oracle and is not available in a single GitHub repository.)
• Official Website: https://www.oracle.com/java/technologies/javase-jvm.html
• Documentation: https://docs.oracle.com/javase/specs/jvms/se8/html/

• Description: The CLR is a virtual machine component of Microsoft's .NET framework, executing programs written in various languages by compiling them into a common intermediate language (CIL), which is stack-based.
• GitHub: https://github.com/dotnet/runtime
• Official Website: https://dotnet.microsoft.com/
• Documentation: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/standard/clr

• Description: The Lua VM executes Lua scripts, a lightweight, high-level programming language designed for embedded use in applications. Lua's VM is stack-based, emphasizing simplicity and efficiency.
• GitHub: https://github.com/lua/lua
• Official Website: https://www.lua.org/
• Documentation: https://www.lua.org/manual/5.4/

Please note: The URLs provided are examples to illustrate the format. For the most up-to-date and accurate information, please refer to the official sources. ```

This format uses MediaWiki markup for headings, bullet points, and links. Each example includes a brief description and relevant URLs for the GitHub repository (if available), the official website, and official documentation. It's important to note that not all projects, especially proprietary ones like the JVM by Oracle, have a public GitHub repository, in which case the “N/A” notation is used.

Snippet from Wikipedia: Stack machine

In computer science, computer engineering and programming language implementations, a stack machine is a computer processor or a virtual machine in which the primary interaction is moving short-lived temporary values to and from a push down stack. In the case of a hardware processor, a hardware stack is used. The use of a stack significantly reduces the required number of processor registers. Stack machines extend push-down automata with additional load/store operations or multiple stacks and hence are Turing-complete.

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