Why are compiled Java class files smaller than C compiled files?

Question

I would like to know why the .o file that we get from compiling a .c file that prints \"Hello, World!\" is larger than a Java .class file that also prints \"Hello, World!\"?

Answer 1

Java is compiled into a machine independent language. This means that after it is compiled it is then translated at run-time by the Java Virtual Machine (JVM). C is compiled to machine instructions and is therefore all of the binary for the program to run on the target machine.

Because Java is compiled to a machine independent language, the specific details for a particular machine are handled by the JVM. (i.e. C has machine specific overhead)

That is how I think about it anyway :-)