Java compiler

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A Java compiler is a compiler for the Java programming language.

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Some Java compilers output optimized machine code for a particular hardware/operating system combination, called a domain specific computer system . An example would be the now discontinued GNU Compiler for Java. [1]

The most common form of output from a Java compiler is Java class files containing cross-platform intermediate representation (IR), called Java bytecode. [2]

The Java virtual machine (JVM) loads the class files and either interprets the bytecode or 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 was specified in JSR 199. [3]

See also

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References

  1. "GCJ - past, present, and future". Archived from the original on 2019-08-02. Retrieved 2021-09-24.
  2. "The Java Virtual Machine Specification, Java SE 8 Edition, Section 1.2". Archived from the original on 2021-09-24. Retrieved 2021-09-24.
  3. "JSR 199: JavaTM Compiler API". Archived from the original on 2021-09-24. Retrieved 2021-09-24.