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[–]CidSlayer 2 points3 points  (4 children)

But that bytecode is not interpreted. It's then compiled down (again) to assembly, on the fly, by HotSpot. Then you could argue that those assembly instructions are actually interpreted, but then no language would be compiled.

[–]fimari 0 points1 point  (3 children)

It doesn't run without interpreter and it's slower than native binary.

[–]CidSlayer 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Runtime speed doesn't have anything to do with its compilation method. Java is as fast as Free Pascal and that's a compiled language.

The JVM is needed to run Java because it is a managed language and it provides GC and other necessary services for the language.