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JIT backend

The part of a JIT compiler that emits actual machine code for one specific CPU architecture.

A JIT's front end figures out what to compile; the backend does the architecture-specific work of turning that into real instructions. Because each ISA (x86, ARM, and so on) has its own encoding and registers, you need a separate backend per target to generate native code that runs at all. It's where the abstract plan becomes bytes the CPU executes.

See also

  • JITA compiler that turns code into fast native machine instructions on the fly, right as the program runs.
  • ISAThe full set of instructions a particular kind of CPU understands — its native vocabulary.
  • intermediate representation (IR)A halfway code form a compiler uses between human source code and raw machine instructions.

Referenced by

intermediate representation (IR) · ISA · JIT · LLVM