I agree, my point is merely that the bulk of the difference between idiomatic Java programs and idiomatic C++ programs is due to the wildly different ways of of programming idiomatically in Java vs. C++.

The small (steady state) performance difference remaining when doing the "exact same thing" in both programs is just down to how good the C++ compiler is vs. the VM JIT at optimizing (usually better, sadly).

What intrigues me about Rust is that hopefully we won't have to choose between readability and elegance vs. performance and safety. Keep up the good work.