I remember the GC stalls being quite apparent for swing applications which I wrote in undergrad back in the 2000 to 2002 time frame (so it must have been java 1

I remember the GC stalls being quite apparent for swing applications which I wrote in undergrad back in the 2000 to 2002 time frame (so it must have been java 1.3). Highly responsive UI and relatively low system memory (256MB on the G1) just strikes as quite the feat on top of a GC language. Although you're right, I may just be dating myself.