Actually, it looks like the Java code is doing basically all the work using the sendfile(2) system call, but the node.js code is using its stream abstraction ov

Actually, it looks like the Java code is doing basically all the work using the sendfile(2) system call, but the node.js code is using its stream abstraction over file reads and socket writes. This benchmark proves exactly one thing: zero-copy networking system calls can make things faster. It doesn't say anything about the JVM or V8 except that neither is absolutely pathological for this. Perhaps the author of the benchmark will assume that I'm only saying this because I am -- to quote his closing section -- a "dogmatic JVM-hater". Without deigning to reply to that notion, I will point out that preemptively smearing people who would disagree with you is rhetorically rude and generally not a good idea if you want to become right about things.