Question

Programming Languages

Explain why Java is a compilation implementation and not hybrid. Are there any hybrid systems left? Explain how you arrived at your answer

Answer 1

Hybrid implementations are somewhere between compilers and interpreters. They convert high level programs to an intermediate language which is then interpreted.

Java actually used to be a hybrid language. A Java program was first compiled into byte code by the Javac compiler. This provided portability as any system with a byte code interpreter could execute the code. The byte code was typically interpreted and run by the Java Virtual Machine.

But newer versions of Java are purely compilation based. The Java Virtual Machine now uses a Just-in-time (JIT) implementation, which compiles the byte code into machine code during run time.

So Java is now a compilation implementation and not hybrid.

Hybrid systems are becoming rare but Perl 5 is still implemented with a hybrid system. But with the release of Perl 6 this year it will too stop being a hybrid implemented.