It’s Faster Because It’s C
"I’d even argue that the main reason kernel code tends to be efficient is not because it’s written in C but because it’s written with parallelism and reentrancy in mind, by people who understand those issues."<p>With this arguing, isn't it reasonable to assume that a project Foo written in C or C++ is faster than an equivalent written in Java simply because the author writing project Foo in C/C++ likely understands performance by choosing C/C++ in the first place? (I am not saying anything about the performance of a certain language implementation)<p>The author also argues from a performance critical application perspective. What about desktop applications where perceived performance rather acts like a quality property? I know many people that shy away from using desktop Java and even .NET applications simply because they feel sluggish and waste memory. I don't care if the Java application is as fast in pure algorithmic performance.<p>If I can choose between using two equivalent C/C++ or Java/.NET applications I will choose the C/C++ application. I still think this is a good assumption.