A comparison of Java, C/C++, and FORTRAN for numerical computing

This paper compares the use of three programming languages, FORTRAN, C/C++, and Java, in a simple numerical computation of the product of two matrices. The goal is to show that, although similar in expressiveness, the performance of the three languages can be vastly different with current implementations. We analyze the causes of these differences, and we discuss how state-of-the-art compilation can be used to deliver excellent performance for all three languages.