Java Features -- High Performance
Java interpreter performs on-the-fly runtime execution of the Java bytecodes which results typically in a satisfactory performance.
- NOT true in initial software which is often 100 times slower than C
- performance is improved in new "just-in-time" interpreters, which saves code for repeated sections to provide compiled code efficiency after first execution
Support for generating native machine code out of Java bytecodes, viewed as intermediate compiler form, is also provided and useful for performance demanding applications.
The performance of the machine code, generated from Java bytecodes, is comparable to that offered by typical C/C++ compilers on the same platform.
Several of these concepts are in fact similar as in the OSF/ANDF project. Using ANDF terminology, we would call Java compiler a 'producer', and the machine code generator discussed here, an 'installer'. Default Java working mode doesn't use installers but directly interprets the intermediate form (this mode is supported in ANDF by GAI -- Generalized ANDF Interpreter).
Java/HotJava system implements ANDF concepts for the Java language.