D vs Java

[Dave]

In article <dvjlj0$pk0$1 at digitaldaemon.com>, David Medlock says...
>
>Tom wrote:
>> Walter Bright wrote:
>> 
>>> I'm no expert on Java programming, but I get this question a lot: 
>>> "What compelling reason does D have that would entice a Java 
>>> programmer to switch to D?"
>>>
>>> I know several of you have come to D from Java, and are expert Java 
>>> programmers, so you folks' reasons would be very valuable. 
>> 
>> 
>> Java
>> - Sucks 'cause of its horrendous slowness
>
>This hasn't been true in quite some time.
>
>Check Javas position relative to C++ here:
>http://dada.perl.it/shootout/craps.html
>

Here's a later version of that benchmark 'suite':
http://shootout.alioth.debian.org/debian/benchmark.php?test=all&lang=all

Along with the resurrected tests from the site above (note that this site as
uniform 'weights' for all of the tests that don't benefit one language over
another): http://shootout.alioth.debian.org/old/benchmark.php?test=all&lang=all

IIRC, there was some argument a while back that they weren't running the tests
long-enough to take advantage of Hotspot. Since then they've increased the
length of the tests to account for that (and startup time is subtracted from
those results as well, I believe).

Of course, these being benchmarks, take everything with a grain of salt <g>

IMHO, the purpose they best serve is to point out potential weaknesses to
implementors, but anyway...

>
>I will agree/add with my list below:
>
>1. No runtime to install. (80 megs?)
>2. JVM is a memory hogg.
>3. Much better low-level facilities(OpenGL, bit twiddling)