Java, eh? Mmm, a touchy topic...couldn't resist posting on it myself.
I noted that many pointed to Java being up to 20 or 30 times slower than C++. Eh, I would have to beg to differ on that statement. In the beginning, that was VERY true of Java--the 1.0, 1.1 and such JDK's were absolutely awful, and I agree 100% on those previous statements of Java being awful in these regards. However, quite a bit has changed since those times. Since the 1.4 JDK, Java has been much better suited than before. Now, J2SE 5.0 (the 1.5 JDK) is much more advanced and much more powerful.
Java seems to be a big hit in the universities, and as a computer science and mathematics student (I was previously meteorology and CS, but changed majors), I've noticed that instructors seem to hit a great deal on Java. I can definitely see why--Java is quite friendly in some regards compared to C++, with features such as automatic garbage collection (if the coder programs well, mind you!) and a somewhat easier portability between platforms. It is also becoming more widely used within companies and organizations, which also is also another reason it is becoming more widespread. Because of that, I actually purchased a rather interesting O'Reilly book about Java containing information about Java 2D, Java 3D, Java audio features, and Java networking entitled "Killer Game Programming in Java" by Andrew Davison. Now, granted, I didn't really want this book for making games--I still chuckle at that thought, actually--but, it did make me realize that Java is more powerful than a lot of people think.
The first chapter of the book is largely meant for disarming critics of Java, and it has some good points. On page 2, he states that "J2SE 5.0, the current release, is typically only 1.1 times slower [than C and C++]." As he also addresses the terrible problems of Java before the 1.3 JDK--he also addresses the 20- to 40-times slower speeds of the earlier releases--I don't think he's just "sucking up" to his favorite programming language. However, I'm still not so sure on this one, but since I am just a student at the time, it is not my place to judge this remark. Regardless, while I can see that Java has it's capabilities, I know that handling of a full-fledged game such as Everquest would not be very good at this time. Simply put, C and C++ has been around since, what, 1978 and 1985 (effectively, due to dates of formal reference material becoming available, I believe), while Java became known in 1996. At the current time, Java is just not quite as mature as C++, and has not been worked with as much, especially since JDKs before 1.3 sucked like a vacuum. One good point the author also had was this, though--people originally resisted the shift to C and C++ for programming games because people believed that "C and C++ were too high-level for fast, efficient games programming when compared to assembly language." As we know, that was fortunately bunk. Thank goodness, because assembly language gets really annoying for programming.
Personally, I wouldn't be too surprised (Should Sun Microsystems keep chugging along on their Java stuff successfully) if Java programming becomes a great deal more prominent within the gaming community in the next ten years. But right now, I definitely believe something this big and this intense should be programmed in C++, and not in Java, even though I myself am a fan of Java over C++. It would likely be too sensitive of programming to do effectively at this time in Java's life, and reprogramming all the C done so far would be a royal pain, so my opinion would be to leave the programming as-is. Furthermore, there is still some speed impediment, even if taken at the author's speed. So, it really is more efficient at the time to program in C++.
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