Will Java go native?

[Dmitry Leskov]

On Thursday, 19 September 2013 at 17:21:16 UTC, Andrei 
Alexandrescu wrote:
> On 9/19/13 6:05 AM, PauloPinto wrote:
>>> In java, all classes are dynamically loadable, and most 
>>> functions are
>>> virtual. This is a deal breaker for the AOT.
>>
>> Wrong. The Java AOT compilers that target embedded systems 
>> produce
>> static binaries.
>
> That's not wrong. Java AOT compilers usually (or at least last 
> time I looked) make it clear they support no dynamic 
> loading/invocation etc. so in a sense they don't support 100% 
> of Java.

You have not looked for way too long it seems. Our JVM with AOT 
compiler passes the official compliance tests (Java Compatibility 
Kit), which includes reflaction/invocation tests. Of course, if 
the class being loaded dynamically was known at compile time, it 
will resolve to the precompiled image, otherwsie, a JIT compiler 
kicks into action. GCJ has an interpreter serving the same 
purpose.

We even went a step further and created an interesting technique 
that enables you to reduce application download size and disk 
footprint by omitting the unused parts of the Java platform:

http://www.excelsior-usa.com/java-download-size.html

In order to remain spec compliant, the runtime is capable of 
downloading the omitted on demand. However, for sample apps that 
you can download from the above URL, there was not a single such 
download ever.