The Tale of Java Performance

The Tale of Java Performance
Abstract
The Java platform introduced Virtual Machines, JIT Compilers and Garbage Collectors to the masses and to mainstream software development. Demand and competition drove impressive improvements in the performance of Java implementations, and while the state of the art can be learned from JVM research papers and product benchmarks, we offer a “Making Of” exposing the challenges, tensions and strategies behind this history, extrapolating to similar platforms such as Microsoft .NET’s CLR.

1 BRIEF HISTORY OF JAVA IMPLEMENTATIONS
- VM performance, By-the-Book
- Static Compilers
- Magic VMs
- Server versus Client
- Lightweight Java
- RealTime Java
2 PERFORMANCE TENSIONS AND CHALLENGES
- The economics of language efficiency
- Costs and Limitations
- Microsoft .NET
- The VM model
- Evolution and Compatibility
3 CONCLUSIONS
REFERENCES