Why is Java faster when using a JIT vs. compiling to machine code?

Question

I have heard that Java must use a JIT to be fast. This makes perfect sense when comparing to interpretation, but why can\'t someone make an ahead-of-time compiler that gener

Answer 1

In the end it boils down to the fact that having more information enables better optimizations. In this case, the JIT has more information about the actual machine the code is running on (as Andrew mentioned) and it also has a lot of runtime information that is not available during compilation.