Simple class runs 3x slower inside 8i than outside...why?

Question

I have a simple class to read a large number of numbers (1E6) and sort them using the java Collections.sort(). I tested the class in the JVM run as a Procedure and externally as a simple class on my desktop.Running Oracle 8i on Linux Redhat7.2. The external version runs about 3 times faster and I have no idea why.
Running the class in the JVM: Server is a Compaq P800-256128US with PIII 800 MHz 256 KB cache & 256MB PC-133 and SCSI drives.
Connection time: 0.004 seconds
ArrayList build: 223.27 seconds
Collection.sort(): 101.29 seconds
Running the class on my workstation: Machine is a Compaq DeskPro w/PIII with 256MB.
OP:Connecting...
----The operation took 5.734 seconds
OP:Building List...
----The operation took 81.141 seconds
OP: Sorting 1000000 items...
----The operation took 6.859 seconds
Here is the class trivial logic:
Connection conn = DriverManager.getConnection("jdbc:default:connection:");
List list = new ArrayList();
stmt = conn.createStatement();
ResultSet rset = stmt.executeQuery("select List from NUMBERS");
while (rset.next())
list.add(Integer.valueOf(rset.getString(1)));
Collections.sort(list);//sorting
I have timing calls embedded not shown here in both versions to measure and of course the connection is different for external call.
What do you think of these results? What should I check?
Thanks,
Chris

Answer 1

Id like to follow up with some questions:
1.)     Oracle documentation states that PL/SQL is the preferred tool for data intensive jobs. And Java Stored Procedures are preferred for more algorithmic jobs. This seems contrary to what you state. Can you clearify?
2.)     When you say gen. purpose and cpu bound Java code, do you mean algorithmic code?
3.)     I assume the points 1 and 2 in your response suggest that it takes so long to get the Java environment up and running that it is killing the performance of my simple algorithm...is that what you mean?
4.)     My real goal is to use intelligent agents (use AI algorithms that are very expensive computationally) and are invoked upon updates and continually train on newly inserted data. The fact these guys can live in the Oracle JVM, be invoked upon an update using a trigger and call an EJB client in warning of a particular condition is what made me fall in love with this solution that Oracle provides. But do you think I am asking too much or Im going a bit beyond what the JVM is for?