How does compiling work?

[Julian Ohrt]

Hi!

Is there any documentation how compiling of livecode works internally?
Is it a compiler which can produce native code (for Windows, Linux, 
etc.)? Are the scripts packaged within the executable together with an 
interpreter and interpreted at run time? Or is it more like a virtual 
machine approach?

Could anyone point me to the corresponding references? Pressing a button 
is nice but I'd like to understand what happens behind the scenes.

Thanks,
Julian