A method of optimizing the runtime performance of a program written in an interpreted programming language can include loading, within a virtual machine having a Just In Time (JIT) compiler, the program and a file specifying frequency of execution data for at least one component of the program. The program can be executed. The executing step can include reading the file specifying the frequency of execution data, seeding a counter of the virtual machine associated with the component(s) with a value derived from the frequency of execution data, and performing a JIT action upon the component(s) of the program according to the seeded counter of the virtual machine.