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Invoking a Java method
If the method is a Java method (not a native method), the Java virtual machine will push a new frame onto the current Java stack.

In the case of an instance method, the virtual machine pops the objectref and args from the operand stack of the calling method's stack frame. The JVM creates a new stack frame and places the objectref on the new stack frame as local variable 0, and all the args as local variable 1, 2, and so on. The objectref is the implicit this pointer that is passed to any instance method.

For a class method, the virtual machine just pops the args from the operand stack of the calling method's frame and places them onto the new stack frame as local variable 0, 1, 2, and so on.

Once the objectref and args (or just the args, for a class method) have been placed into the local variables of the new frame, the virtual machine makes the new stack frame current and sets the program counter to point to the first instruction in the new method.

The JVM specification does not require a particular implementation for the Java stack. Frames could be allocated individually from a heap, or they could be taken from contiguous memory, or both. If two frames are contiguous, however, the virtual machine can just overlap them such that the top of the operand stack of one frame forms the bottom of the local variables of the next. In this scheme, the virtual machine need not copy objectref and args from one frame to another, because the two frames overlap. The operand stack word containing objectref in the calling method's frame would be the same memory location as local variable 0 of the new frame.

Invoking a native method
If the method being invoked is native, the Java virtual machine invokes it in an implementation-dependent manner. The virtual machine does not push a new stack frame onto the Java stack for the native method. At the point at which the thread enters the native method, it leaves the Java stack behind. When the native method returns, the Java stack once again will be used.