"C++ is more appropriate for JITing than C" Agreed. "However, these days new C/C++ apps seem restricted to domains like embedded systems, real-time, and game d

"C++ is more appropriate for JITing than C" Agreed. "However, these days new C/C++ apps seem restricted to domains like embedded systems, real-time, and game development, where memory usage (no virtual memory) and performance consistency is very important. So a JIT doesn't make a lot of sense, as it introduces a lot of variability into the application." Probably also true, but a JIT can be useful for loading code at runtime and supporting a wide variety of hardware without shipping a fat binary with a bunch of different versions. Graphics drivers contain JITs for OpenGL/shader language code, and Apple uses LLVM JIT to generate optimized code from GLSL shaders that takes advantage of all available hardware capabilities without a sea of #ifdefs ( http://llvm.org/devmtg/2007-05/10-Lattner-OpenGL.pdf http://llvm.org/devmtg/2007-05/10-Lattner-OpenGL.pdf ). Your point about memory usage and variability is well-taken though.