Java compilation can be slow. In this article, Jack Shirazi and Kirk Pepperdine of JavaPerformanceTuning.com recommend using the Jikes compiler, because it was designed for speedy compilation.
Then they mention this caveat:
Beware, though, that while Jikes can help speed up your development process, you are probably better off doing your final compilation with the compiler that comes with the JVM that you will be using in production. Things can be different enough across JVM versions that problems can occur when using compilers that are different from their JVMs.Um, yeah. Sounds like this is much more than the standard deviance seen when switching C compilers.
