Learning about Java bytecode and the JVM

Question

In a recent question asked recently my simple minded answer highlighted many of my misconceptions about Java, the JVM, and how the code gets compiled and run. This has created

Answer 1

For understanding Java/the JVM's architecture: read Wikipedia, the specs and the source code.

For understanding how object-orientated code is done on a low level: try and emulate features like inheritance/polymorphism/encapsulation in a lower-level language like C.

In C you can achieve the above through, for example, a combination of function pointers and nested structures.