[TriLUG] Re: Managed languages (was .NET development on Linux)

[Christopher L Merrill]

Brian Henning wrote:
> Java is slow(er) because it's interpreted---whereas a compiled language such
> as C gets turned into machine code that the CPU itself understands, Java is
> compiled into object code that must be translated into machine code at
> runtime by the JVM.

I think your information is out-of-date.  While the early JVMs used a
simple bytecode interpreter, they have grown very sophisticated over
the past few years - using jit-in-time compilation and on-the-fly
optimization of bottlenecks.  Since it can observe the run-time
characteristics of the code (unlike a C++ compiler), it can perform
optimizations not possible in the compiler (or so I've been told).

The result is that Java is as fast as C++...and sometimes faster:
   http://sys-con.com/story/?storyid=45250&DE=1

(note that the tests in the refernced article are performed on
RedHat/Fedora)

When a GUI seems non-responsive, it's the programmer's fault.  I've
written a lot of Java GUIs...and they can be very snappy if written
correctly.  I don't mean spending hours to optimize each part of the
GUI -- the programmer simply needs to understand Swing's MVC
architecture and design accordingly.  It's actually pretty easy.

C

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