What is JIT?

JIT stands for Just In Time. JIT is a compiler that converts Intermediate Language to a Native code.

The code is converted into Native language during execution. Native code is nothing but hardware specifications that can be read by the CPU. The native code can be stored so that it is accessible for subsequent calls.

In the context of .NET interview questions, JIT stands for “Just-In-Time” compilation. The correct answer to the question “What is JIT?” would be:

Just-In-Time (JIT) compilation is a technique used by the .NET runtime to improve the performance of managed code execution. When a .NET program is executed, the source code is first compiled into an intermediate language (IL) code. Instead of compiling the entire codebase into native machine code ahead of time, as in traditional compilation, JIT compilation converts portions of the IL code into native machine code as needed during runtime. This allows the .NET runtime to optimize the code based on the execution environment, such as the processor architecture and available resources. As a result, JIT compilation helps to reduce startup time and memory consumption while still providing performance comparable to or better than statically compiled languages.