In an approach, a virtual machine identifies, within a set of instructions, an instruction to load a constant; identifies, based on the instruction to load the constant, a first entry in a data structure that identifies a particular constant type of the one or more constant types, wherein the first entry specifies at least constant data and a first set of instructions for assembling a value or partial value from the constant data; executes the first set of instructions to assemble the value or the partial value from the constant data; and stores a particular value or a reference to the particular value onto a run-time data structure used to pass values or references between sets of instructions executing in a run-time environment, wherein the particular value is based on the value or the particular value assembled from the constant data.