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I think the point is that claiming speed is a property of languages is simply a category error, like saying programming languages are green or noisy. These can be properties of programs (well, properties of a given execution of a program) but have nothing to do with languages.

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For languages with exactly one useable implementation, the distinction is rather academic. In the case of C++, as far as I know, every production-quality compiler produces code which runs circles around code produced by any Java compiler.

In addition, some languages have features which cause them to be more difficult to optimize. (See, e.g., the restrict keyword in C99.)

That has been my experience, as well.

It's also important to remember that Java is still in this position even after almost 20 years of development. And this is development undertaken by large companies that were or are quite well funded, and have had very talented individuals work on this technology.

If they've yet to get consistent C++-level performance out of Java or the JVM, it's most likely factors inherent to those technologies that are to blame.

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