[tristanj]

Now that benchmark you linked has a hidden bias towards Java. If you read the methodology listed in their FAQ, they mention they ran each benchmark for Java 66 times in the same JVM instance before discarding the first 65 results, which leaves out the initial iterations before JIT has kicked in. For servers, which perform many similar operations for each client and are rarely restarted, the benchmark you posted is probably valid. But for jobs that wouldn't benefit from JIT, Java would perform much more slowly.

[igouy]

NOT TRUE.

If you read the methodology listed in their FAQ, they state in bold - "Time measurements include program startup time".

http://shootout.alioth.debian.org/help.php#time

If you read the section "What about Java?" they mention ADDITIONAL measurements, which are only shown on the Help page, and indicate how little difference JVM startup time makes once these programs have run for 5 seconds and 20 seconds.

http://shootout.alioth.debian.org/help.php#java