"Compiler" thread in Android

Question

Sometimes when I get an exception and I check the current threads I see a thread named "Compiler" and it's always running dalvik.system.NativeStart.run(Native Method).

Does anyone have any idea what this thread does or what its purpose is?

Answer 1

Dalvik is the name for the Android process virtual machine. So in summary Dalvik is the part of Android that runs your compiled application. With android 2.2 Dalvik has a Just in time compilation feature so that is probably why you are seeing the 'Compiler'.