Java accelerates, closes performance gap on Visual C++ infoworld.com
This story is a little garbled. For example it leads off with:
Java is closing the performance gap on more mature languages such as Visual C++, according to recent tests carried out by an independent software vendor and verified by the InfoWorld Test Center.
JavaSoft, for example, plans to address challenges caused by poor garbage collection in Java with technology, code-named Train, that will debut with the company's HotSpot dynamic compilation engine in 1998.
Me: huh? How does the 2nd sentence connect to the first? And then,
Until now, one of the chief barriers to implementing Java has been its slow performance in compiling code, especially in complex number crunching. This means that developers don't have to include C++ code in their Java applications, thus forfeiting platform independence.
Me: Somebody is really confused here. But then, the good part:
However, one ISV used Java to run complex mathematical equations for calculating the value of options in the currency market and was shocked at the results.
Cats Software, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based risk-management software vendor, found that Java performed only 4 percent to 10 percent slower than Visual C++ when running Partial Differential Equations.
"These results are staggering," said Jim Kleckner, chief technology officer at Cats. "I would have expected Java to perform about 100 percent slower than Visual C++."
Hmm, Reg better inform these guys on the fraudulence of Java math. On the other hand, if they know PDE's they probably know a little numerical analysis too, and might not be totally impressed with Reggie's analysis.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch:
Microsoft to roll out Java alternatives at developer's conference this week infoworld.com
While damning Java with faint praise as a "great language," Microsoft is rolling out Java alternatives for Web-content creation based on HTML, Dynamic HTML, and Extensible Markup Language (XML) technologies starting this week with the introduction of HTML-based cripting tools. As a result, Java is being repositioned in Microsoft's toolbox as an alternative to C++ that only high-end developers will use.
"Dynamic HTML, along with XML, coupled with scripting, is by far the most pragmatic way to write cross-platform, client-side applications," said Tod Nielsen, general manager of developer relations and platform marketing at Microsoft.
I have to credit Thomas Reardon with keeping us up to date on the evolving company line here, he told us this a month ago or so. The war goes on.
Cheers, Dan. |
