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A virtual machine implementation approach,used to speed up execution of byte-code programs. Toexecute a program unit such as a method or a function, thevirtual machine compiles its bytecodes into (hardware) machinecode. The translated code is also placed in a cache, so thatnext time that unit's machine code can be executedimmediately, without repeating the translation.This technique was pioneered by the commercial Smalltalkimplementation currently known as VisualWorks, in the early1980s. Currently it is also used by some implementations ofthe Java Virtual Machine under the name JIT (Just In Timecompilation).[Peter L. Deutsch and Alan Schiffman. "EfficientImplementation of the Smalltalk-80 System", 11th AnnualSymposium on Principles of Programming Languages, Jan 1984,pp. 297-302].