Julia versus Lisp SBCL fastest performance Always look at the source code. If the fastest programs are hand-written vector instructions, does the host language matter? You might be more interested in the less optimised programs — more seconds, less gz source code. fannkuch-redux source secs mem gz cpu secs Julia #2 7.85 209,420 1067 29.81 Julia #3 7.90 202,488 886 30.35 Lisp SBCL #5 30.77 35,984 681 30.77 Lisp SBCL #3 36.37 29,828 826 36.36 Lisp SBCL #4 9.96 29,748 1527 39.01 Julia 39.10 179,144 434 39.37 Lisp SBCL #2 46.46 15,576 517 46.46 n-body source secs mem gz cpu secs Julia #8 4.11 226,264 1111 4.38 Julia #4 5.65 199,672 1155 5.92 Julia #3 6.81 202,744 1541 7.08 Lisp SBCL #2 7.79 15,980 1403 7.79 Lisp SBCL 12.79 15,864 1368 12.79 Julia #2 23.45 271,236 1078 23.72 spectral-norm source secs mem gz cpu secs Julia #4 1.09 185,772 429 3.67 Julia #2 1.26 192,016 370 4.14 Lisp SBCL #6 5.32 17,484 505 5.32 Lisp SBCL 5.32 17,960 631 5.32 Lisp SBCL #7 1.44 10,880 762 5.68 Lisp SBCL #2 1.44 10,880 915 5.69 Lisp SBCL #3 1.45 10,880 890 5.69 Lisp SBCL #8 1.44 10,880 791 5.69 mandelbrot source secs mem gz cpu secs Julia #8 1.30 232,128 624 4.69 Julia #7 1.33 232,380 619 4.83 Julia #4 1.90 257,172 574 5.40 Julia #3 1.49 273,488 579 5.46 Julia #6 1.98 244,100 562 5.72 Julia #5 1.56 268,576 571 5.81 Lisp SBCL 4.66 47,552 2473 16.48 Lisp SBCL #4 4.17 39,252 2447 16.63 Julia 26.84 209,200 373 27.10 Lisp SBCL #3 10.85 47,100 894 29.07 pidigits source secs mem gz cpu secs Julia #3 0.95 175,984 506 1.22 Julia #2 1.06 188,536 674 1.33 Lisp SBCL #3 3.22 127,976 493 3.21 Lisp SBCL #4 3.22 127,976 489 3.22 Lisp SBCL #2 6.02 137,764 648 6.02 regex-redux source secs mem gz cpu secs Julia #5 1.72 410,660 759 3.11 Julia #4 1.77 417,048 766 3.16 Julia #3 2.05 509,040 622 3.74 Julia 3.58 389,648 408 3.85 Lisp SBCL #4 15.63 819,344 1972 31.32 fasta source secs mem gz cpu secs Julia #8 1.12 191,000 1082 1.38 Julia #5 2.41 216,748 950 2.68 Julia #4 2.50 198,044 1049 2.76 Lisp SBCL #6 4.54 15,816 1757 4.54 Julia #7 1.70 395,444 1182 4.61 Julia #6 1.88 396,436 1203 4.88 Lisp SBCL #3 5.96 15,876 1587 5.96 Lisp SBCL #2 9.34 15,996 1622 9.34 Lisp SBCL 9.43 18,812 1424 9.43 Julia #3 11.10 190,736 896 11.36 k-nucleotide source secs mem gz cpu secs Julia #8 4.64 374,472 951 11.01 Lisp SBCL #5 16.48 153,116 2320 16.45 Lisp SBCL #4 17.02 152,920 2291 17.02 Julia #7 6.88 360,996 1368 17.50 Lisp SBCL #6 10.20 537,800 2479 37.02 Lisp SBCL 11.81 381,756 2424 38.08 Lisp SBCL #3 52.10 381,228 1290 52.08 Lisp SBCL #2 52.27 381,232 1284 52.27 Julia 196.01 1,976,552 695 194.57 reverse-complement source secs mem gz cpu secs Julia #8 1.44 978,216 522 1.71 Julia #9 1.68 975,488 449 1.95 Lisp SBCL 5.58 1,516,388 904 5.58 Julia #2 32.27 1,764,328 460 32.54 Lisp SBCL #2 Timed Out binary-trees source secs mem gz cpu secs Lisp SBCL #3 5.01 364,316 932 9.32 Lisp SBCL 11.20 376,512 589 11.19 Julia #3 7.52 501,992 634 26.84 Julia #2 18.10 487,544 423 33.96 Julia #5 12.42 443,884 390 40.86 Julia #4 13.69 477,196 372 43.36 Julia julia version build 19.0.1+10-21 Lisp SBCL SBCL 2.3.0 all Julia programs & measurements all Lisp SBCL programs & measurements