[Jon Stratis]

The statement "Java is slow" has been around a long time. And at one point, it was true. When Java first came out, it was slower than other languages like C. But there have been a TON of optimizations over the past 10+ years that simply make that statement not true in most cases. In fact, due in a large part to memory management, C++ can be slower than Java (Pointers are time consuming to handle for C++, malloc sucks, performance wise. You don't have those problems with Java).

for a young programmer like yourself, you have a couple of options.

1. You can go with what you already know (Java) - that will be the easiest and surest way of producing quality code for your team. The additional benefit of extra exposure to the language through the team will also help you with your classwork. Looking towards the future (aka college), you'll most likely being using Java for a lot. I know my old school has switched many classes over to Java in the past 6 years or so. Having a deeper understanding of that language now will only help you with your classwork in the future.

2. You could go with a different language for a broader experience. While this will probably be more difficult and time consuming for you, most programming jobs generally involve multiple languages - and having a broad exposure will help in the long run. For instance, right now my job requires me to know HTML, Groovy, JSP, Java, SQL, PL/SQL, and C (i think that's everything...). Additionally, learning multiple programming languages helps you to understand the basics of how languages, in general, work. You don't need to deal with pointers in Java, but working with them in C will dramatically increase your understanding of how computers work.

One last thing to consider: What support do you have? Do you have any programming mentors? do they have a preferred language?

Our team ended up going with Java for two reasons - first, the students were familiar with it from classes at school. Second, the mentors knew it better than C++ and could help them succeed better with it.

Another team we work closely with made a different decision. They went with Labview (i think), and ran into some big problems late in the season that their mentors (who were experts in Java) couldn't help much with. Having a safety net of knowledgeable people close at hand isn't something to ignore.