Dalvik
lastmod 2025-12-22created 2025-12-221 edits
The Dalvik virtual machine is a register-based virtual machine. It was designed and implemented by Dan Bornstein with the help of other Google engineers. It is currently included in the Android (prior to 4.4.4) mobile phone platform.
The Dalvik virtual machine is optimized for low memory requirements. It relies on the underlying operating system for support such as process isolation, memory management, and threading, but multiple Dalvik VM instances can run at the same time. The Dalvik virtual machine is often confused with the Java virtual machine, but it differs from the Java virtual machine because it does not use Java bytecode. Instead, a tool named dx, included with the Android SDK, can be used to convert Java class files into the .dex format.
The Dalvik virtual machine was named by Bornstein. It is named after the fishing village of Dalvík in Eyjafjörður, Iceland. It is said to be where Dan Bornstein's ancestors lived.