Does the "magic" of the JVM hinder the influence a programmer has over micro-optimisations in Java? I recently read in C++ sometimes the ordering of the data members can provide optimizations (granted, in the microsecond environment) and I presumed a programmer's hands are tied when it comes to squeezing performance from Java?

I appreciate a decent algorithm provides greater speed-gains, but once you have the correct algorithm is Java harder to tweak due to the JVM control?

If not, could people give examples of what tricks you can use in Java (besides simple compiler flags).