Requirements for Just-in-time Compilation

How difficult is it to write a just-in-time compiler in comparison to
a normal compiler?


Since speed of compilation is an issue, should the compiler also do
machine code generation?


Also, is making such a compiler retargetable a lofty goal? It seems
to me that supporting multiple architectures would require making
extra passes, and would slow things down.


I've been reading papers and source code, but I still feel that I am
lacking a clear understanding of the real issues involved in writing
such a compiler.


thanks
-jason
[So long as you have a reasonable way to link the generated code into
the running system, I wouldn't think it'd be much harder. Multiple
architectures shouldn't be a big issue, since any particular version of
your JIT compiler needs only to generate code for the architecture it's
running on. -John]

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