Java vs C++ benchmarks

[Scorpion]

Java was my first big deal after I was tinkering with HTML v.3.quirksMode and discovered the miracle of reverse engineering as an excellent hack learning tool. I was conservative looking at the overall as the language is easier and far less uglier than C++.

People fail to really think in terms of overall time in an effort engineering a system as not just benchmarks but ROI from the developer/engineer standpoint.

Java may be slower out the algorithm gate but C++ crawls off of the drawing board and no one can argue that fact. So where does it all balance out?

That's the real question and it has been said before. It honestly saddens me that people forget those facts.

P.S. I tinkered around w/C# pretty successfully. It's a well thought out syntax taking alot from C++ and it would appear to have the scripting influence of Python. M$ seems to be fans of both and well deserved both are quite established I'd say. C# takes two spooky languages and makes it fun to program.

[Scorpion]

Deitel & Deitel is a mixed bag with some, but I myself have their Java and C++ Learning Editions and I can not say that I'm disappointed at all with either of them. I am affirmed that they are competent authors with a proven background in engineering and professional networking having worked internationally. ISO and NATO level development litters their resumes, so it's going to take a little more than a few ignorant flames to down these guys.

There are also Java Extreme Programming Cook Book by O'Reilly, Beginning Java Objects and Expert One on One J2EE Design and Development both by Wrox Press. The volumes that I have, have more than likely been updated since I purchased them, but it's a step in the right direction in trying to locate some valid text on the subject.

[helgihg]

I've seen so many benchmarks showing that Java is on par with C++ when it comes to performance. The problem is, I just can't feel it! Every single Java app I have ever tried in my life, is slow and consumes vast amounts of memory. It's true that this isn't a problem if you're running ONE Java app on modern computers, but we got modern computers to run more things at a time, with more performance. I don't think anyone upgraded from 800MHz to 1600MHz just to let programmers use their language of choice.

I'll reconsider when I see a single Java app that isn't drop-dead slow with totally unacceptable performance. Even SWT apps I feel are much slower in every respect than I would imagine their C++ counterpart being.

I'm sure there are SOME areas where Java can outperform C++, but still, I mean... the point of speed is user-experience, and whether it's the virtual machine, garbage collection or whatever that causes the user to experience the application as incredibly slow, doesn't matter, it's the user experience that counts. No amount of statistics will make me think that Java apps perform any better than I experience them.

EDIT: Oh, and if Java programmers have to be experts just to make their applications acceptable in terms of performance, then why bother with Java to begin with? Why not just take care of the memory problems in C++? You don't need any more of an expert to do that, and the argument that we're much quicker to create Java apps, goes out the window. You can code a C++ program very quickly, only it'll suck. If it's the same with Java, then... well, why use it?