Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.
Re: What do people use Java for?
Author: Kent Spaulding Posted: 2/23/1999; 11:33:26 AM Topic: What do people use Java for? Msg #: 3169 (In response to 3142) Prev/Next: 3168 / 3170
Chuck,It might be worth revisiting this issue of Java performance. You might find a few surprises - especially with regards to servers.
Have you seen the story regarding the Jigsaw webserver in PCWeek, which Dave pointed to recently?
http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/news/0,4153,389496,00.html
Their preliminary performance results put it in line with Apache's performance. Curious - since Jigsaw is implemented in Java and Apache is in C/C++. This does not however, address reliability concerns.
You'll also find that servlet-based web pages abound, and are quite scalable. Naturally, the Java Developer's Connection (a Sun site) uses servlets and has a fairly heavly load. Additionally, it uses a Java-based server, the Java Web Server.
You'll also find Java lurking behind NetObject's Fusion, on the server side. Fusion servers have never been flagged as poor performers.
Additionally, it is my understanding that the Knight-Ridder newspapers serve up all of their on-line classified adds using server-side Java running against a Java OODB. They claim to have tried several other implementations with inferior results.
Finally, if you must have as fast as possible performance, check out the Java compiler from Tower Technologies. You'll get code that runs at 98% the speed of C++. This is a tiny penalty to pay for increased programmer efficiency.
I wanted to make on other point. You claim that Java performs just like a scripting language. This is not true, especially in the presence of a JIT. That partilcular characterization is not fair.
In the end, I'm a big fan of scripting languages. I use them to prototype the utilities and web applications that I then implement in Java. The performance card is way over-played. It is not an issue on the server.
--Kent
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