"They interpret bytecode; that's why they're called interpreters." This is not universally true. Back in the day, interpreters execute machine code directly fr

"They interpret bytecode; that's why they're called interpreters." This is not universally true. Back in the day, interpreters execute machine code directly from source code. I still remember the debates about whether the JVM should be consider an interpreter. It is a bit of a pointless debate in my opinion anyway.