Java compiler/interpreter

Question

Why we do we say that Java is a compiled and interpreted language?

What is the advantage of this (being compiled and interpreted)?

Answer 1

Java is compiled, into byte code not binaries. The byte codes are not executable directly, they need the Java Virtual Machine to do a just in time compile and compile them again into machine code at runtime.

At a very basic level, it separate the code that programmers write from the local machine where the JVM operates on, hence better portability. While compiling to bytecode helps the performance of just in time compile, reduce file sizes, and more or less help conceal real code. (it also eliminates some compile time error)