Will Java go native?

[PauloPinto]

On Thursday, 19 September 2013 at 10:06:54 UTC, deadalnix wrote:
> On Thursday, 19 September 2013 at 08:26:03 UTC, Russel Winder 
> wrote:
>> And Windows native code applications don't ship with a version 
>> of all
>> the Windows DLLs for every application?
>>
>> Java is no longer under-performant compared to C, C++, 
>> Fortran, D, Go,
>> Rust. Check the benchmarks.
>>
>
> Benchmarks in Java are often misleading. The language promote a 
> style with a lot of indirections, in the code and in datas. 
> Once your application reach a certain size, cache effect makes 
> it slowdown dramatically. But most benchmark applications 
> aren't big enough to exhibit that behavior.
>
> That being said, if you code in D like in java, you'll have the 
> same trouble (in fact, it is likely to be worse in D). Compile 
> time polymorphism and value types are here a major benefit of 
> C/C++/C#/D (pick whatever you like).
>
> Obviously, you'll find some pathologic cases where java is 
> faster (usually mono-threaded memory allocation intensive 
> benchmark exhibit that, as the JVM is able to add concurrency 
> to the equation via the GC). But that doesn't represent the 
> typical way most a program works (and when they do, you want to 
> fix that as this is a performance killer, in every language, 
> even if java suffers less from it).
>
> The main problem of java isn't the VM, it is its addiction to 
> indirections.
>
>>> *Java's sluggish performance was what made me look for 
>>> alternatives in the first place, and I found D.
>>
>> I accept this as true as it is a statement by you about your 
>> decision
>> making, but Java 8 is not Java 1. Early desktop Java was pure
>> interpretation, and hence slow. Modern Java, via the JIT, 
>> generally
>> executes native code. With Java 7 and method handles and 
>> invokedynamic,
>> the world changed even more and now computationally intensive 
>> codes can
>> run basically as fast using Java as using C, C++, Fortran, D, 
>> Rust, Go.
>> (After initial "warm up" of the JIT.)
>>
>
> Yes, the warm up is usually a severe drawback for user 
> applications. Server app do not suffer from it that much. I 
> guess that is why java is so much used server side, but not 
> that much to create GUI apps.

Java might eventually gain value types. The IBM J9 VM already has 
them.

http://duimovich.blogspot.ca/2012/11/packed-objects-in-java.html

http://www.slideshare.net/mmitran/ibm-java-packed-objects-mmit-20121120

--
Paulo