Can Ahead of Time code benefit regular Java applications too?

[Julian Waters]

Hi all,

Since Leyden's goal has shifted from originally exploring only binaries
compiled directly to native code, to "address the long-term pain points of
Java’s slow startup time, slow time to peak performance, and large
footprint", would there be any merit in looking at allowing native code to
be embedded within jars to bypass the Interpreter at runtime? (Maybe have
Ahead of Time code that replaces the Interpreter be compiled by C1, and
treat it as part of the C1 pipeline so it can be profiled while being run)
Ideally it'd be similar to the now defunct jaotc, but more compact (within
the jar itself or perhaps the classfiles somehow) instead of compiling the
Ahead of Time code into an entirely separate file which then needs to be
explicitly passed to the JVM at runtime. This may or may not be a good
starting point before advancing to entirely standalone Java binaries, but I
digress. Perhaps the experience of the CraC team would be of some help in
this area?

best regards,
Julian