Speed of Java (was: Linux on old laptop in two stages)
Christopher Chisholm
christopher.chisholm at syamsoftware.com
Tue Jun 6 14:29:00 EDT 2006
I've always wondered:
could you build a distro of linux that has native java support? when
you think about how java works, it compiles programs to byte code, which
is then executed on each platform by a virtual machine. what if someone
created a linux kernel that could directly interpret and execute this
byte code? programs could have direct access to system resources, and
it wouldn't be up to a virtual machine to handle memory management and
other areas that affect efficiency.
my biggest problem with java is that every java app i use FEELS bulky,
even on a crazy high-end desktop. practically, they run just fine. but
i don't want to wait an extra half-second damnit. nothing feels as nice
as a UI written in C/C++ and powered by either openGL or native
windowing methods of an OS. Java is great to work in since the java
library has methods for practically everything (DishWasher dishwasher =
new DishWasher.WashMyDishes()), but I can never get used to the laggy feel.
-chris
Ben Scott wrote:
> On 6/6/06, Lawrence Tilly <mail.list.tilly at gmail.com> wrote:
>> http://wiki.java.net/bin/view/Games/JeffOnPerformance
>
> There seem to be an awful lot of exceptions and conditions in there.
>
> For example, the author states you should have a "modern" JIT
> compiler (whatever "modern" means), and ignore all the time at the
> start where JIT optimization hasn't happened yet and is in fact making
> things slower. Well, that's sure convenient. Many of the Java
> programs I have to use, I only use for brief periods of time -- that
> same time I'm supposed to ignore. So I guess I should ignore Java
> entirely! ;-)
>
> Likewise, the "J2ME/CLDC" exception. The author never specifies
> what "slow" and "very limited" mean. From what I gather from Java
> people here on *this* list, it sounds like less than 512 megabytes is
> "limited" in Java terms. ;-)
>
> I also noticed that the benchmarks the author links to are focused
> on "math heavy" operations. All the Java programs I have to use
> aren't doing lots of math, but rather, things like string
> manipulation, network protocol, systems management, databases, etc.
> Maybe that's significant.
>
> The other Java stuff I have to use is the random Java applets I
> encounter on the web. And, without fail, every time I encounter one,
> the browser grinds to a halt. Blame it on whatever you want, but
> that's real world experience where Java == slow. Doze and Nix both.
> Firefox and MSIE. MS-VM and Sun JRE. Maybe there's a fast JVM out
> there that all the smart Java people are using, but for everyone else,
> it sucks mud.
>
> I really find this a shame, as Java-the-language seemed pretty nice
> to me when I was exposed to it years ago.
>
> -- Ben
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