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Subject: Re: Java versus C Speed Comparison

Author: Matt Taylor

Date: 16:33:18 01/06/03

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On January 06, 2003 at 13:33:24, Russell Reagan wrote:

>On January 06, 2003 at 12:36:19, Graham Laight wrote:
>
>>Java is a compiled language - it ought to be nearly as quick as C.
>
>It's only compiled to byte code, not machine code, so there is still some
>interpreted-like behavior going on. I have heard that Java is about 2x as slow
>as its C/C++ equivalent. One additional thing that I think will slow Stuart down
>is that he is using bitboards in Java. I have never tried myself, but I have
>always heard that bitboards in Java are slow (when compared to bitboards in
>C/C++).

Rumor has it that platform-specific Java compilers exist. I've never seen one. I
can't vouch for the 64-bit performance of Java, though I would have expected it
to be more mature in that respect than C/C++. Also, the JIT compiled JVMs are
quite fast. You pay the JIT penalty once each time you start the program, but
afterward it'll be running native code.

There was some benchmark a long time ago on cnet or the like, can't remember
where I saw it...anyway, it showed JIT performance exceeding C/C++ performance
in some cases. That does raise eyebrows. Makes you wonder how poorly-written the
C/C++ code was. Either way, it means that JIT code can be relatively fast.

-Matt



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