This is exactly right. You do see JITs winning in Java because Java's "everything is virtual" and "most for loop are interface calls to Iterator<T>" makes it v

This is exactly right. You do see JITs winning in Java because Java's "everything is virtual" and "most for loop are interface calls to Iterator<T>" makes it very hard to statically compile efficiently. Languages designed for static compilation generally consider virtual dispatch to have a user-visible cost and don't unilaterally make users paying it without them asking for it.