From what I've seen, is compiled in native code at runtime. Was about C#, and seemed pretty fast in benchmarks after initial load/compiling.
The difference between native/interpreted code execution is huge, though. Try to replicate hex or base64 encoding using a Foxpro procedure and compare the execution time with STRCONV() execution time.


>Forget machine code. Upward Even C++.NET don't generate machine code. All compiler goes on interpreter (Example next Delphi version). Also computers too speedy nowadays.