This post originated from an RSS feed registered with Java Buzz by Weiqi Gao. Original Post: Java Faster Than C++? No Way! Feed Title: Weiqi Gao's Weblog Feed URL: http://www.weiqigao.com/blog/rss.xml Feed Description: Sharing My Experience... Latest Java Buzz Posts Latest Java Buzz Posts by Weiqi Gao Latest Posts From Weiqi Gao's Weblog

Ever since 1995, the Java world has been fascinated with talks and benchmarks which shows why Java should be/could be/would be/is faster than C++.

At first it was the JIT:

When Java gets a JIT, it would be faster than C++.

Then it was the HotSpot:

When the HotSpot is done, Java would be faster than C++.

Now it is the benchmarks:

Professor So-and-so did a benchmark, and guess what, Java is faster than C++.

And the well-argued theories:

The garbage collector is faster than hand collection for the same amount of garbage.

But my experience tells me that Java is slower than C++:

• My Java based "Hello, World." program is slower than my C++ "Hello, World." program.
• My Java based Java compiler is slower than my C++ based Java compiler.
• My Java based IDE (wonderful as it is) is slower than my C++ based IDE.
• My Java based JavaScript interpreter is slower than my C++ based JavaScript interpreter.

Java has many advantages over C++. Performance is not one of them.

The good news is that the Moore's Law and cheaper memories has done a lot more to boost Java's performance than anything else. Java is the appropriate technology in more and more applications.