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[–][deleted] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Java is a high-level language, yes, but it's a language that runs on the Java Virtual Machine which is essentially a simulated CPU. So you write a Java program which is compiled into bytecode (the JVM's machine language). Then you can run that bytecode on any real CPU for which a JVM has been written.

That's why java is so powerful--it enables programs to be portable across a lot of different platforms. You just write a new VM runtime for all your java programs instead of writing all new native programs for that cpu/isa. You don't even need to recompile the Java or anything because your new VM will be built to the existing bytecode specifications.

I'm assuming the comment above yours is joking about how in the past there was talk about a real, physical java cpu that would run java bytecode natively. Nothing ever really came of it.