The invention provides a method of creating and periodically loading a database of classfiles on a non traditional computer device, such as a PDA (personal digital assistant), cellular telephone, pager, appliances, or other embedded device. A resident Java virtual machine loads classes from this database instead of loading them from a file system. The embedded device is periodically updated by connecting it to a network or computer that includes a classfile source. At this time, records can be added to, or deleted from, the database (where the records are classfiles). The management of the classfile database on the embedded device is independent of the virtual machine on the embedded device. One embodiment of the invention comprises an embedded device with a virtual machine, a classfile database, a database manager, and a remote database loader. The embedded device and virtual machine can function even when not connected to the classfile source.