Static compilation refers to compilation in a static environment, typically before the program is run and no runtime feedback is available. Static compilation is the way languages like C++ are compiled, ahead of time. Static compilation has the advantage that whole program analyses are known to be true forever because the runtime cannot change the program adaptively and that compile time overhead may be large (since compile time doesn't impact total execution time). Thus, the compiler becomes more efficient. The disadvantage is that an adaptive runtime can provide far better information to base optimization decisions on and optimize for changing program behavior over time.

See also Ahead-of-time compilation, Adaptive code generation, and JIT compilation.