Handling a virtual method call includes extracting, from a pointer to an object, an identifier associated with the class of the object, the pointer to the object being associated with the virtual method call, and the identifier being embedded within the pointer; using the identifier to obtain a virtual method table, including locating a first entry in a class identifier table mapping a plurality of class identifiers to a corresponding plurality of class data, the first entry being associated with the identifier and comprising the virtual method table or a pointer used to obtain the virtual method table; locating a second entry in the virtual method table, the second entry being associated with the virtual method call; and jumping to an address associated with the second entry to execute code at the address.