Java compiler: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Program compiler for Java programming language}}

{{No footnotes|date=July 2013}}

A '''Java compiler''' is a [[compiler]] for the [[Java (programming language)|Java programming language]]. The most common form of output from a Java compiler is [[Java class file]]s containing platform-neutral [[Java bytecode]], but there are also compilers that emit optimized [[Machine code|native machine code]] for a particular hardware/[[operating system]] combination.

Some Java compilers output optimized [[machine code]] for a particular hardware/[[operating system]] combination, called a ''[[Computing platform|___domain specific]]'' ''[[computer system]]''. An example would be the now discontinued [[GNU Compiler for Java]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=GCJ - past, present, and future|url=https://lwn.net/Articles/130796/|access-date=2021-09-24|language=en|archive-date=2019-08-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190802072307/https://lwn.net/Articles/130796/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Most Java-to-bytecode compilers, [[Jikes]] being a well known exception, do virtually no [[Optimization (computer science)|optimization]], leaving this until [[Run time (program lifecycle phase)|run time]] to be done by the [[JRE]]{{Citation needed|date=April 2007}}.

The most common form of output from a Java compiler is [[Java class file]]s containing [[cross-platform]] [[intermediate representation]] (IR), called [[Java bytecode]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Java Virtual Machine Specification, Java SE 8 Edition, Section 1.2|url=https://docs.oracle.com/javase/specs/jvms/se8/html/jvms-1.html#jvms-1.2|access-date=2021-09-24|language=en|archive-date=2021-09-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210924135604/https://docs.oracle.com/javase/specs/jvms/se8/html/jvms-1.html#jvms-1.2|url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[Java virtual machine]] (JVM) loads the class files and either [[interpreter (computing)|interprets]] the [[bytecode]] or [[just-in-time compilation|just-in-time]] compiles it to [[machine code]] and then possibly optimizes it using [[dynamic compilation]].

A standard on how to interact with Java compilers programmatically was specified in [[Java CommunitySpecification ProcessRequest|JSR]] 199.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=199|title=JSR 199: JavaTM Compiler API|access-date=2021-09-24|archive-date=2021-09-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210924135603/https://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=199|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Major JavaSee also compilers==

* [[List_of_compilers#Java_compilers|List of Java Compilers]]

As of 2012, the following are major Java compilers:{{citation needed|date=February 2012}}

* [[javac]], the standard Java compiler in Oracle's [[Java_Development_Kit|JDK]]

*The Java Programming Language Compiler ([[javac]]), included in the [[Java Development Kit]] from [[Oracle Corporation]], open-sourced since 13 November 2006.

*[[GNU Compiler for Java]] (GCJ), a part of the [[GNU Compiler Collection]], which compiles [[C++ (programming language)|C]], [[Fortran]], [[Pascal programming language|Pascal]] and other [[programming language]]s besides Java. It can also generate [[native code]] using the back-end of GCC.

*Eclipse Compiler for Java (ECJ), an open source [[incremental compiler]] used by the [[Eclipse (software)|Eclipse]] project.

==See also==

{{Portal|Java}}

*Jaccelerator - a semantic compressor with Java compiler<ref>

{{cite book

| last = Ghosh

| first = Subdipto

| title = Java, Jini Technologies

| url = http://books.google.com/books?id=INtQAAAAMAAJ

| accessdate = 2013-07-29

| series = Proceedings of SPIE--the International Society for Optical Engineering

| volume = 4521

| year = 2001

| publisher = [[Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers]]

| isbn = 9780819442451

| page = 118

| quote = Eck et al. describe the only semantic compressor available for Java, jaccelerator. Jaccelerator, which is similar in principle to SlimBinaries.8 unites a Java compiler, which compiles the Java source code to its syntax tree, and a run-time compiler.

}}

</ref>

==References==

{{Reflistreflist}}

==External links==

* [http://openjdk.java.net/groups/compiler/ Sun's OpenJDK javac page]

* Stephan Diehl, [http://people.cis.ksu.edu/~hatcliff/605/XC/java-comp.pdf.gz ''"A Formal Introduction to the Compilation of Java''"], Stephan Diehl, "''Software - Practice and Experience"'', Vol. '''28'''(3), pages 297-327, March 1998.

*[http://www.jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=199 JSR 199] Java Compiler API [[Java Specification Request]] for invoking the Java compiler from a Java program

*[http://people.cis.ksu.edu/~hatcliff/605/XC/java-comp.pdf.gz ''A Formal Introduction to the Compilation of Java''], Stephan Diehl, "Software - Practice and Experience", Vol. 28(3), pages 297-327, March 1998.

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[[Category:Java platformcompilers|Compiler ]]

[[Category:Java (programming language)]]

[[Category:Java specification requests]]

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