+1 on the AOT compilation. I was surprised there is still a noticeable difference between Graal and a "standard" JVM even if you have eliminated all the other cruft. Both are practically usable, no question, but the latter really felt "instant".

I was amazed when I tried Graal the first time, but also had to think that this is probably what C/C++ or Rust devs just see as "normal".