Class files are platform-independent in that you can compile them on one platform and run them on any other platform that has a JVM of the same or a newer version. That doesn't change the fact that you need a JVM to run them.
Originally posted by Priyam Srivastava:
The JVM is defined to be platform dependent...
In this context it's probably better to be precise. The
JVM is not platform-independent. To the contrary, it's closely bound to the platform it's written for. You've got no chance of using, say, a Windows JVM on any other platform. What is platform-independent is the "API" that the JVM implements, namely, the class file specification.
[ August 31, 2007: Message edited by: Ulf Dittmer ]