1. Introduction

In this article, we’ll explore the differences between the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) and the Dalvik Virtual Machine (DVM). We’ll first take a quick look at each of them and then make a comparison.

2. What Is a Runtime?

A runtime system provides an environment to translate the code written in a high-level language like Java to machine code and understandable by the Central Process Unit (CPU).

We can distinguish these types of translators:

• Assemblers: They directly translate assembly codes to machine code so it is fast
• Compilers: They translate the code into assembly code, then it uses assemblers to translate the resulting code into binary. Using this technique is slow but the execution is fast. Also, the resulting machine code is platform dependent
• Interpreters: They translate the code while executing it. Since the translation happens at runtime, the execution may be slow

#java #jvm