| C/C++ programming in a heterogeneous network environment requires use and compatibility across several vendor platforms and the corresponding compilers. This problem is solved in Java by designing platform-independent binary representation called Java bytecode (or opcode). |
| Java compiler (written in Java and platform-independent) reads Java source and generates Java bytecode. These bytecodes are shipped to client machines upon browser requests. |
| Each client machine must run Java interpreter which performs runtime execution of Java bytecodes. Java interpreter is written in POSIX compliant ANSI C and needs to be ported to and conventionally compiled (once) on each individual platform. |
| Once the interpreter is ported, application developers don't need to worry at all about platform specificity and differences between native compilers. They write portable Java which is compiled by platform independent Java compiler and executed on Java interpreter, ported to various platforms. |