IDEs, Program Execution, and the Runtime Environment

A runtime system is the collection of all the hardware and software components that allow an application to run on a computer system.

In other words, a runtime system is all of the mechanisms, hardware, or software that allow the application to run on a computer system, regardless of the programming language used to program the application.

Because every program needs components to actually run, every programming language has some form of a runtime system, whether the language is a compiled language or an interpreted language or is invoked via an application programming interface (API). Services that can be provided by the runtime system include type checking, debugging, or code generation and optimization. As an example, the Java Runtime Environment (RE) is what you get when you download Java software. The JRE consists of the Java virtual machine (VM), Java platform core classes, and supporting Java platform libraries that ultimately allow that Java program to run on your system. In other words, the JRE is the runtime portion of Java software, which is all you need to run it in your web browser.

The runtime system can also be the gateway by which a running program interacts with the runtime environment itself, which contains state values accessible during program execution that are needed by the environment. As we are focusing on security, the runtime environment needs to include the components required for security to be handled properly: real-time threat detection and prevention, access control and authentication, data protection, continuous monitoring and logging, system management and maintenance, and incident response and recovery.

By incorporating these components and implementing a multi-layered, defense-indepth approach, organizations can create a secure runtime environment.