java machine code

icecubeflower · 03-31-2009, 09:12 AM

I know what a virtual machine is. I don't really understand why the Java language has to be so intertwined with it, though. I mean couldn't someone make a program that translates C code into byte code for a Java Virtual Machine?

And likewise, isn't there any compiler out there that compiles Java code straight into machine code for a specific system?

ilikejam · 04-01-2009, 09:19 AM

Hi.

The Virtual Machine is there so that the same byte code can be run on any platform without having to recompile. That was kind of the point of Java.

In answer to your two questions:
I'm not aware of a C to Java byte compiler
There are processors available that can execute Java byte code natively, and gcj can compile Java source into machine code.

Dave