I am not a Java developer nor have I ever attempted to write a line of Java code, but I have always heard that Java is slow. Recently I started working at a company where the main CMS platform is written in Java and it is excruciatingly slow.

I always thought, the "Java is slow" claim couldn't be true as it depends on who wrote the program, whether they optimized the code or not, etc. etc.

But this CMS at work has been developed (and maintained for several years now) by a team of over 30 in house developers. So is it true that Java is inherently slow? and if so why?

I have no hands on with Java, however ive always been of the (wrong?) opinion that a Java app's speed is directly related to the computers power thats viewing it? Along with the code and its (lack of) optimisation.

Java in itself is not slow.
The start of the virtual machine can take some time, but once it's done, java application speed is on par with other compiled languages.

Absolutely not.. Actually Java doesn't exceptional in bench mark tests.. Google a couple you'll see it performs outstanding...

RATHER, in my opinion, Java developers are simply not that great in large quantities.. but this can go for any languages.. So with 30 developers, there's def a possibility that someone's writting some nasty nasty code..

Also are you sure it's Java that's slow? Is the DB getting killed? Are you using an ORM? My experience with every language I've worked with.. When an APp or Site is very slow it's 99% of the time a DB issue (including poor SQL)

Originally Posted by holmessph

Absolutely not.. Actually Java doesn't exceptional in bench mark tests.. Google a couple you'll see it performs outstanding...

RATHER, in my opinion, Java developers are simply not that great in large quantities.. but this can go for any languages.. So with 30 developers, there's def a possibility that someone's writting some nasty nasty code..

Also are you sure it's Java that's slow? Is the DB getting killed? Are you using an ORM? My experience with every language I've worked with.. When an APp or Site is very slow it's 99% of the time a DB issue (including poor SQL)

Hmmm, you're right it could be a database issue. Actually I don't know much about the platform beyond what I mentioned in the 1st post since I am in a different division that has nothing to do with the development of that CMS. I'm not even sure what database is being used. The funny thing is in some ways it's extremely fast (like with the upload of files) but in most other ways it is very slow.

All those java programmers are situated in an office across the hall to which I don't have access, but the next time I run into one of them I will ask a bit more about the CMS's development end.

In fact, Java isn't inherently slow and C++ isn't inherently fast. There are static compilers available for Java for example of this is the Excelsior Jet, and there a interpreted C++ compilers available too like C++ .NET in a managed mode. Its only a per se that Java is slow...

When Java first came out in the middle 1990s it was quite slow, soon after that just in time compiles started to make its code respectively first, and today i'd doubt you'd notice the difference between must C or Java code. However the reputation of being slow tends to cling to java because once it was.

thanks for tutorial

Hi,

I've been working in computer fields since last five years and I know java itself is not slow.

Sometimes virtual machine takes some time but once it done you'll see speed of java