What are the differences between an interpreter, a compiler, and a JIT-compiler in the context of PHP development?

Interpreters, compilers, and JIT-compilers are all tools used in the execution of programming languages like PHP. An interpreter translates code line by line and executes it immediately. A compiler translates the entire code into machine code before execution. A JIT-compiler combines the benefits of both by translating code into machine code at runtime. Understanding these differences can help optimize PHP code execution. 

// PHP code snippet using a JIT-compiler
$code = '<?php echo "Hello, World!"; ?>';
$opcache = opcache_compile_file($code);
$opcache();

Keywords

interpreter compiler JIT-compiler PHP development differences

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