When to native-compile Java source code

Java has always been known for its build-once-run-anywhere capability, providing excellent cross-platform support. The Java source code is compiled once into bytecode. At runtime, a Java VM transforms the bytecode into executable code for the target platform using a Just in Time compiler, also known as JIT compilation. This takes some time, slowing down the startup of Java programs. Before the era of microservices, Java components typically ran on an application server, like a Java EE server. After being deployed, the Java component ran for a long time, making the longer startup time less of a problem.

With the introduction of microservices, this perspective changed. With microservices, there comes the expectation of being able to upgrade them more frequently and quickly scale instances for a microservice up and down based on its usage. Another expectation is to be able to scale to zero, meaning that when a microservice is not used, it should...