developerWorks: Improve Your Development Processes

“Have you found your compilation phase to be slow? Does
javac take too long? Then try the Jikes compiler to add that extra
‘zing’ when creating .class files. That’s the all new, extra-fresh
Jikes, with complete Java source support. (May cause VerifyError,
not all javac options supported, bytecode may not be as advertised,
and your performance may vary. Always read the manual before
use.)

“OK, so the discussions at the JavaRanch about Jikes weren’t
quite as direct as our homemade advert here, but several readers
definitely suggested that the Jikes Java compiler was designed for
speedy compilation. That’s useful to know, especially for projects
with many files to compile. Beware, though, that while Jikes can
help speed up your development process, you are probably better off
doing your final compilation with the compiler that comes with the
JVM that you will be using in production. Things can be different
enough across JVM versions that problems can occur when using
compilers that are different from their JVMs…”

Complete Story