Do I really need to learn Java?

[Alan Gauld]

Remco Gerlich wrote:
> Java is probably a lot faster than Python, I don't know. 

I've seen this claim several times but in all the tests that 
I've done its been slightly slower. Not much, usually about 
10%, and I know how to optimise Python better than I do Java. 
Also I was using the raw JVM not a JIT compiler so that 
would probably speed things up a bit.

BTW I've found the same with Perl for Web apps. 
modPerl seems significantly faster than Java servlets.

These have been very unscientific tests and perforce on small
programs(~100 lines Python/Perl vv ~200 lines Java)

I'd be interested if anyone has more reliable evidence 
- in either direction...

Alan G