VMs should be available in runtime (no matter if an AOT is present or not) in order to allow an efficient run-time code generation. And VMs should also be avail

VMs should be available in runtime (no matter if an AOT is present or not) in order to allow an efficient run-time code generation. And VMs should also be available during compilation to make it possible to efficiently implement reflective compile-time meta-languages (e.g., like Common Lisp). And the difference between abstract machines, intermediate representations and virtual machines is very elusive (see all the confusion around LLVM for example).