Java SE 6 Performance Improvements

Many new features and enhancements in Java Platform, Standard Edition 6 (Java SE 6) are aimed at improving performance and scalability. Major areas of improvement include runtime performance, garbage collection, performance-related default settings in the 6.0 Java Virtual Machine, and client-side performance.

Runtime performance improvements include:

• Biased locking
• Lock coarsening
• Adaptive spinning
• Support for large page heap on x86 and amd64 platforms
• Array copy performance improvements
• Background compilation in HotSpot client compiler
• New linear scan register allocation algorithm for the HotSpot client compiler

Garbage collection performance improvements include:

• Parallel compaction collector
• Concurrent mark sweep collector enhancements

Client-side performance improvements include:

• New class list for class data sharing
• Improvements to the boot class loader
• Splash screen functionality improvements
• Enabling of Swing's true double buffering
• Better rendering on Windows systems

Benchmark tests showed marked improvements over Java SE 5.