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	2,941	1582	5.47
* C clang #4	13.38	13.39	2,351	1190	5.22
C clang #5	8.13	32.00—32.15	4,764	917	5.37
C clang #3	34.18	34.19—34.26	2,355	574	5.02
* C clang #2	8.70	34.15—34.33	2,945	1563	5.27
OCaml #3	8.84	35.17	36,123	1024	1.50
C clang #8	36.36	36.44—36.51	2,347	483	5.13
OCaml #4	9.14	36.47	11,338	1018	1.53
C clang	36.52	36.54—36.63	2,347	514	5.35
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	2,417	1639	6.15
* C clang #5	4.86	4.86	2,470	1436	5.17
C clang #6	5.17	5.17	2,970	1186	5.42
C clang	5.38	5.39	2,978	1179	5.06
C clang #2	5.43	5.43	2,966	1270	5.25
* C clang #4	5.60	5.61	2,953	1398	6.30
C clang #8	5.70	5.56—6.19	2,961	1195	5.27
C clang #3	6.13	6.13	2,966	1214	5.26
C clang #7	6.78	6.80	2,966	1250	5.05
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	1.55	4,686	1203	6.45
* C clang #4	0.73	2.87	5,382	1145	5.66
* C clang #5	0.73	2.87—2.91	5,403	576	5.55
* C clang #2	0.74	4.30—7.09	5,288	941	6.43
OCaml #2	5.34	5.34	6,074	383	1.46
C clang #8	5.41	5.42	3,211	389	5.15
C clang #3	1.45	5.75—5.79	5,423	470	5.58
* C clang #7	1.84	8.98—10.12	5,439	906	6.66
mandelbrot
	elapsed	Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	cpu secs	mem	gz	make
C clang #9	1.24	4.92	36,811	700	5.32
C clang #5	1.54	6.10	37,044	788	5.35
* C clang #4	3.49	13.89—13.95	36,102	805	5.26
* C clang	3.51	13.95	35,643	828	5.65
* C clang #7	3.54	14.02—14.06	36,491	1000	5.49
* C clang #3	3.56	14.16—14.20	35,418	769	5.06
C clang #8	25.51	25.52	2,359	412	5.22
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	0.79	0.79	2,273	1469	4.57
C clang #5	1.20	1.20	2,204	1286	5.64
C clang #2	2.44	2.44	2,163	1299	5.14
C clang #6	1.04	3.05	5,272	1936	5.40
C clang #7	0.83	3.28—3.32	5,861	2276	5.29
OCaml #6	3.37	3.37	208,892	1194	1.43
C clang	3.47	3.47	2,392	1213	5.28
OCaml #3	4.72	4.73	4,764	1075	1.52
C clang #8	8.08	8.14—8.25	2,200	839	5.08
C clang #4		Empty
k-nucleotide
	elapsed	Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	cpu secs	mem	gz	make
C clang	6.27	13.93—14.23	134,038	1512	6.01
* 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	0.45	0.61—0.67	514,220	1899	6.22
C clang #9	0.47	0.72	514,216	1551	5.13
C clang #2	1.17	1.70	1,021,891	757	5.17
C clang #5	1.97	2.03—2.09	1,020,813	654	5.16
* C clang #4	3.77	3.78	514,023	716	4.93
C clang #6	1.05	4.15—4.20	714,764	828	5.90
* 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	1.66	5.23—6.05	176,116	816	5.77
C clang #3	1.91	5.90	138,719	842	5.90
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	17.72	17.78—18.29	271,938	660	5.20
C clang #5	9.25	33.42—33.59	361,689	914	4.96
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	5.19
C clang	0.75	0.75	3,731	459	5.35
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	0.83	2.82	159,736	1403	5.40
C clang #2	3.22	3.22	106,783	1121	5.07
* OCaml #3	2.20	3.38	469,848	653	1.75
C clang #4	0.99	3.82—3.86	159,539	1237	5.11
C clang #3	1.76	4.34	109,867	1273	5.08
* OCaml #2	14.01	14.04	947,642	644	1.60
C clang	Ubuntu clang version 18.1.8 (11)
OCaml	OCaml native-code 5.4.0+dev0-2024-08-25