IT systems perspective - Java in high-performance environments

Java programs are executed by a Java virtual machine (JVM), which interprets intermediate compiled bytecode that is nominally platform independent. Although early versions of Java interpreted unoptimized bytecode in a relatively unsophisticated manner, recent developments including static analysis, just-in-time compilation, JVM optimization, and instruction-level optimizations have improved execution efficiency. Consequently, Java is now competitive with C and C++ for some applications and on some platforms. Despite Java's increasing popularity, there is a lingering perception that deficiencies in the language make it unsuitable for high-performance computing. In this paper we address some of those deficiencies and discuss the suitability of using Java in a distributed environment.