[LLVMdev] Using LLVM to target the JVM

[Curt Cox]

Mips2Java solves the same problem. The latest version of Mips2Java is called
NestedVM and is part of the larger Vexi project.  Much work has been done on
NestedVM and it is quite impressive. 
http://wiki.vexi.org/

Still, it could use a lot of improvement.  It's biggest immediate problems
are:
1) It doesn't integrate well into a standard (Ant-based) Java build
2) There is no documented support for JNI

It would obviously be quicker to fix these problems with NestedVM than to
get LLVM to the same point (in terms of JVM support) that NestedVM is now.
Once that point is reached, the remainder of the effort would be almost
exclusively optimization.  LLVM would seem to provide a better base for
optimizing the runtime.  If LLVM binaries can soon be made to run more
quickly than NestedVM binaries, it would be a positive affirmation of the
principles of LLVM. 

Perhaps the MIPS instruction set is really better suited for running
C/Fortran binaries on a JVM.  Given the design goals of LLVM, it doesn't
seem likely.
 
- Curt