Yes, and that's my doubt. Compiling is turning data (text) into code (something executed by the CPU). I thought the point of the hardware is that data can't become code. If data can become code, then data is code, and it doesn't matter if the data is compiled first or interpreted at runtime. There doesn't seem to be a way to prevent "data" from becoming "code".

> why a JIT wouldn't work

Uh? It would work via a file - as AOT.