C clang versus OCaml

How the programs are written matters! Always look at the source code.

If the fastest programs are flagged * possible hand-written vector instructions or "unsafe" or naked ffi, does the host language matter? You might be more interested in the less optimised programs — more seconds, less gz source code.

fannkuch-redux
	elapsed	Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	cpu secs	mem	gz	make
* C clang #6	2.25	8.88	2,933	1582	5.56
* C clang #4	13.39	13.39	2,343	1190	5.32
C clang #5	8.10	32.01—32.15	4,792	917	5.61
* C clang #2	8.68	34.14—34.46	2,703	1563	5.59
C clang #3	34.14	34.19—34.26	2,351	574	5.16
OCaml #3	8.84	35.17	36,123	1024	1.50
C clang #8	36.35	36.38—36.47	2,347	483	5.08
OCaml #4	9.14	36.47	11,338	1018	1.53
C clang	36.52	36.54—36.63	2,347	514	5.39
OCaml #2	45.79	45.79	4,784	478	1.42
OCaml	51.28	51.29—51.36	4,796	529	1.52
n-body
	elapsed	Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	cpu secs	mem	gz	make
* C clang #9	2.20	2.20	2,494	1639	6.10
* C clang #5	4.86	4.86	2,417	1436	5.03
C clang #6	5.17	5.17	2,970	1186	5.19
C clang	5.38	5.40	2,974	1179	5.35
C clang #2	5.43	5.44	2,982	1270	5.30
* C clang #4	5.60	5.61	2,941	1398	6.20
C clang #8	5.70	5.70—5.75	2,941	1195	5.20
C clang #3	6.13	6.13	2,978	1214	5.65
C clang #7	6.78	6.79	2,974	1250	5.16
OCaml	6.95	6.95	4,043	1255	1.33
spectral-norm
	elapsed	Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	cpu secs	mem	gz	make
* C clang #6	0.39	1.52—1.56	4,706	1203	6.40
* C clang #5	0.73	2.87	5,206	576	5.85
* C clang #4	0.73	2.88—2.92	5,366	1145	5.86
* C clang #2	0.73	4.15—6.50	5,411	941	6.35
OCaml #2	5.34	5.34	6,074	383	1.46
C clang #8	5.41	5.42	3,211	389	5.20
C clang #3	1.45	5.74	5,390	470	5.53
* C clang #7	1.85	8.31—9.99	5,399	906	6.27
mandelbrot
	elapsed	Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	cpu secs	mem	gz	make
C clang #9	1.23	4.91	36,614	700	5.36
C clang #5	1.54	6.10	36,893	788	5.17
* C clang #4	3.49	13.85—13.93	36,458	805	5.13
* C clang	3.50	13.95	35,627	828	5.30
* C clang #7	3.53	14.02	36,758	1000	5.70
* C clang #3	3.56	14.16—14.22	35,484	769	5.23
C clang #8	25.48	25.50—25.55	2,359	412	5.04
OCaml #6	28.79	28.77—28.84	4,776	450	1.44
OCaml	7.60	30.21—30.25	64,643	723	1.52
* C clang #6		Empty
fasta
	elapsed	Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	cpu secs	mem	gz	make
C clang #3	0.78	0.78	2,257	1469	5.10
C clang #5	1.20	1.20	2,208	1286	5.41
C clang #2	2.44	2.44	2,200	1299	5.46
C clang #6	1.05	3.05	5,104	1936	5.36
C clang #7	0.83	3.28—3.32	5,947	2276	5.40
OCaml #6	3.37	3.37	208,892	1194	1.43
C clang	3.47	3.47	2,396	1213	5.07
OCaml #3	4.72	4.73	4,764	1075	1.52
C clang #8	8.09	8.19—8.30	2,200	839	4.95
C clang #4		Empty
k-nucleotide
	elapsed	Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	cpu secs	mem	gz	make
C clang	6.34	13.99—14.10	134,189	1512	5.85
* OCaml #3	16.17	43.00—44.11	286,568	1839	1.50
* OCaml	45.59	45.90—46.62	348,320	894	1.40
* OCaml #2	27.23	61.90—62.14	363,422	1247	1.96
reverse-complement
	elapsed	Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	cpu secs	mem	gz	make
* C clang #7	0.46	0.65	514,040	1899	6.27
C clang #9	0.48	0.72	514,277	1551	5.42
C clang #2	1.19	1.72	1,021,899	757	5.27
C clang #5	2.01	2.07—2.12	1,020,629	654	5.18
* C clang #4	3.79	3.80	514,073	716	5.07
C clang #6	1.08	4.26—4.30	699,249	828	5.14
* OCaml	2.27	5.29—5.46	1,519,079	1372	1.50
OCaml #3	2.28	5.88—6.08	1,518,805	1361	1.64
OCaml #2	9.29	9.30—9.36	933,937	426	1.42
binary-trees [ Contentious. Different approaches. ]
	elapsed	Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	cpu secs	mem	gz	make
C clang #2	1.68	5.26—6.08	176,222	816	2.58
C clang #3	1.92	5.90	138,723	842	5.80
OCaml #5	7.78	7.80	228,925	468	1.29
OCaml #2	3.55	10.39—10.51	868,213	759	1.45
C clang	17.86	17.75—18.31	271,938	660	5.22
C clang #5	9.24	33.44—33.54	361,550	914	5.00
pidigits [ Contentious. Different libraries. ]
	elapsed	Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	cpu secs	mem	gz	make
C clang #2	0.74	0.74	3,990	422	5.46
C clang	0.75	0.75	3,719	459	5.06
OCaml #5	2.77	2.78	9,834	465	1.53
OCaml #7		Empty
regex-redux [ Contentious. Different libraries. ]
	elapsed	Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	cpu secs	mem	gz	make
C clang #5	0.84	2.84	159,756	1403	5.28
C clang #2	3.23	3.23	106,799	1121	5.07
* OCaml #3	2.20	3.38	469,848	653	1.75
C clang #4	1.00	3.84—3.89	159,789	1237	5.30
C clang #3	1.76	4.33—4.37	109,871	1273	5.44
* OCaml #2	14.01	14.04	947,642	644	1.60
C clang	Ubuntu clang version 19.1.1 (1ubuntu1)
OCaml	OCaml native-code 5.4.0+dev0-2024-08-25