välikoodiksi

Välikoodiksi is a Finnish translative form of välikoodi, literally "intermediate code," and is used to describe the result of translating source code into an intermediate representation. The term combines väli ("between") and koodi ("code") and typically appears in contexts where code is converted into a form intended for further processing rather than direct execution on hardware.

In computer science and software development, producing välikoodiksi is a common step in compilation and execution pipelines. Compilers and transpilers convert high-level source code into an intermediate representation (IR) or bytecode that can be optimized, analyzed, and either interpreted, JIT-compiled, or translated to machine code. Well-known examples of intermediate forms include Java bytecode for the JVM, Microsoft Intermediate Language (IL) for .NET, LLVM IR, and WebAssembly.

Using välikoodiksi offers benefits such as platform portability, centralized optimizations, improved security through sandboxing, and the ability to support multiple source languages or back ends. Trade-offs can include added complexity, runtime overhead for interpretation or JIT compilation, and potential debugging challenges. The concept is central to modern language implementation strategies and to technologies that aim to separate language front ends from execution back ends.