javascript - The confusion with JIT compilation in V8

Question

I was studying the inner workings of V8 and came across the term JIT compiler. Initially, I read in this article https://www.quora.com/How-does-the-JIT-compiler-work-in-JS that JIT compiler in V8 is called "Ignition" which is interpreter. Then, I came to conclusion that JIT compiler is just interpreter. But later I found another article https://blog.logrocket.com/how-javascript-works-optimizing-the-v8-compiler-for-efficiency/ describing jit-compilation as the combination of both interpreter and compiler. Guys, is JIT compiler a really a combination of interpreter and compiler? or Is JIT compiler is just interpreter only?

Answer 1

V8 developer here. Just to clarify and expand what commenters have been pointing out already:

• "JIT" means "just in time", and means that some execution environment dynamically (i.e. at runtime) decides to produce something (typically machine code -- colloquially, "JIT" tends to mean "just-in-time compilation", although if you decide to prepare a meal exactly when you're hungry and then eat it right away when it's done, then that's technically also "JIT" preparation.) The canonical opposite would be a language like C/C++, which is compiled by the developer, long before being delivered to and executed by the user. Another "opposite" in a different direction is an execution environment that executes something without producing machine code dynamically. Such environments are typically called "interpreters".

• In the past, V8 used to always produce machine code. It simply had no way to execute JavaScript that did not involve compiling it to machine code first. Obviously this happened on the client, so it was a textbook example of a just-in-time compiler (or, more accurately, a set of several compilers... oh well, details!).

• In recent years, V8 has had an interpreter as its first execution tier. Now usage of terms gets complicated, because this interpreter "compiles" JavaScript "just in time" to bytecode (which is then interpreted), but when someone says "JIT compiler", they usually mean that it's not an interpreter.

• V8 also has an optimizing compiler that produces machine code. It runs at runtime (when a function is considered hot), so it's a just-in-time compiler.