Java in general is slower than other languages because it runs on a virtual machine. This has a positive side in that the same class you compiled on your windows pc can be run on a linux pc or a mac provided they have the relevant java virtual machine for their platform. The downside is that the whole process is slower compared to programs wrritten in other languages. There were a few projects working on a java to machine code compiler, which would make it run faster, but last I heard they were having difficulty implementing the libraries.
Chris Packham
kriz@i4free.co.nz
A thousand mokeys at a thousand machines, it happened, it got called the internet.