Java and numerical computing

Java represents both a challenge and an opportunity to practitioners of numerical computing. The article analyzes the current state of Java in numerical computing and identifies some directions for the realization of its full potential. Many research projects have demonstrated the technology to achieve very high performance in floating-point computations with Java. Its incorporation into commercially available JVMs is more an economic and market issue than a technical one. The combination of Java programming features, pervasiveness, and performance could make it the language of choice for numerical computing. Furthermore, all Java programmers can potentially benefit from the techniques developed for optimizing Java´s numerical performance. The authors hope the article will encourage more numerical programmers to pursue developing their applications in Java. This, in turn, will motivate vendors to develop better execution environments, harnessing Java´s true potential for numerical computing