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C++ and Java have other language-level differences, though, that go beyond just "JITs are slower".

True, but part of that difference comes from the “we don't need to design the language for perf, the JIT will close the gap automagically” mindset though.

I don't really think so for Java; most of it was designed prior to high-performance JIT-based VMs were a thing. In fact I think a lot of the advancements in JITs actually came out of work that went into making HotSpot fast.

Sure but one of vocal pitches/hype for Java in the beginning and even smalltalk before that.. was don’t worry about the price paid for .. automatic memory management, bytecode, dynamism... the top men are working on JIT, GC research and other optimizations that would not only close, but handily overtake the gap compared to the state of the art static compiled languages of the time. (Hence exactly why Hotspot was a thing after java was clearly becoming widespread)

In reality it was a bit of a mixed bag.. and to some of us that remember the hype from 30 years ago it comes across as over promising and underdelivering.

That isn’t to say that the technology isn’t incredible, I don’t mean to dump on it. But overpromising is sort of the status quo for tech.

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