Java architecture includes some rich functionality that has made it attractive for the development of large enterprise application suites. Conversely, its object oriented (OO) format and characteristics mean heavily-used applications do not achieve great performance. But is that really Java's fault? Not if you believe Azul Systems.
The actual performance problem, according to Peter Holditch, senior systems engineer for appliance-maker Azul Systems, stems primarily from the way conventional server systems are architected. Despite advances, the basic design goes back to the days when single-threaded Cobol TP systems were the norm.
“Even today, a system with 16 separate CPUs is considered quite big,” said Holditch, adding that memory management tended to be ‘single-threaded’ so that multi-threading limits were reached quickly.
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