Java compiler: Difference between revisions

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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 [[Class (file format)|Java class files]] containing platform-neutral [[Java bytecode]]. There exist also compilers emitting optimized [[Machine code|native machine code]] for a particular hardware/[[operating system]] combination.

Most Java-to-bytecode compilers, [[Jikes]] being aan 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 [[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]].