Java and the Java Virtual Machine ― Definition, Verification, Validation

This book provides a high-level description, together with a mathematical and an experimental analysis, of Java and of the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), including a standard compiler of Java programs to JVM code and the security critical bytecode verifier component of the JVM. The description is structured into language layers and machine components. It comes with a natural executable refinement which can be used for testing code. The method developed for this purpose is based on Abstract State Machines (ASMs) and can be applied to other virtual machines and to other programming languages as well. The book is written for advanced students and for professionals and practitioners in research and development who need a complete and transparent definition and an executable model of the language and of the virtual machine underlying its intended implementation.
"The Jbook gives the most comprehensive and consistent formal account of the combination of Java and the JVM." (Pieter Hartel and Luc Moreau in Formalizing the Safety of Java, the Java Virtual Machine and Java Card, ACM Computing Surveys, 33(4):517-558, 2001. Section 6.2, page 540.)