When is ruby going to be faster?

[EasyMarketer]

Will Ruby ever be as fast as java? im not comparing it to java at all, It is nothing like it, But im just curious if you all think they will ever make it as fast? Im still learning ruby, but there is a couple programs that I would like to make client side, so that i could make actual programs out of them not just web applications but client side ones. Let me know :)

[rob]

People ask the same thing when comparing Java and compiled languages like C/C++, etc. In my experience, the more work a language does for the programmer (ie. makes things easier), the slower it runs. Ruby has to deal with a lot of internal processes to make some of the revolutionary features it has work so smoothly.

While Ruby speed is increasing everyday, my gut feeling is that the extra server resources you might have to put at a Ruby application are more than offset by the time and productivity gains you get writing an application. The end user gets an advantage of getting better software faster.