Lua versus Ruby 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 Ruby #2 139.77 21,120 1462 536.11 Lua 601.99 19,664 469 601.97 Ruby 1,380.34 20,992 391 1,380.29 n-body source secs mem gz cpu secs Ruby #3 188.71 21,248 1169 188.71 Ruby #2 215.31 21,248 1143 215.31 Lua #4 227.77 19,672 1312 227.76 Lua #2 239.26 19,672 1200 239.25 Lua 267.17 19,672 1207 267.16 spectral-norm source secs mem gz cpu secs Lua 78.53 19,672 335 78.53 Ruby 126.55 22,144 299 126.54 Ruby #4 129.16 22,912 333 129.16 Ruby #5 64.82 27,520 764 236.48 mandelbrot source secs mem gz cpu secs Lua #3 343.95 19,672 364 343.94 Lua 344.46 19,672 365 344.43 Lua #2 375.98 19,672 373 375.96 Lua #6 113.21 282,112 630 398.58 Ruby #5 151.07 86,272 978 603.13 Ruby #4 661.22 136,132 862 661.94 Ruby #2 259.17 94,336 887 1,034.44 Ruby #3 1,538.89 21,120 313 1,538.80 Ruby #6 Failed Ruby #7 Failed pidigits source secs mem gz cpu secs Ruby #5 1.56 850,304 494 1.55 Ruby #2 3.22 2,271,624 666 3.22 Ruby 16.56 104,192 524 16.55 Lua #7 Failed Lua #5 Failed Lua Failed regex-redux source secs mem gz cpu secs Ruby #2 23.19 216,576 444 23.19 Ruby #3 11.84 216,576 730 24.21 Ruby #9 30.10 216,576 327 30.09 Lua Failed fasta source secs mem gz cpu secs Ruby #6 23.07 120,064 1070 23.07 Lua #2 24.01 19,672 1065 24.01 Lua #3 24.02 19,672 1065 24.02 Ruby #3 35.52 120,064 1004 35.52 Ruby #5 91.70 22,784 1000 91.69 Ruby #2 93.97 147,548 747 93.97 Ruby #4 95.74 266,496 864 95.73 k-nucleotide source secs mem gz cpu secs Lua #2 97.75 596,472 620 97.73 Ruby #7 256.92 393,216 792 255.31 Ruby #2 255.78 181,700 426 255.60 Ruby #3 272.84 203,672 546 273.06 Ruby 84.88 172,436 583 300.65 reverse-complement source secs mem gz cpu secs Ruby #5 10.77 1,624,300 301 10.76 Ruby #4 6.88 2,510,956 608 12.51 Ruby #3 9.57 4,232,604 490 17.72 Ruby #2 24.46 1,001,852 272 24.46 Ruby 18.75 5,147,124 521 36.24 Lua #2 40.39 2,654,604 560 40.39 Lua #5 41.27 2,169,636 725 41.26 Lua #4 49.05 1,030,016 600 49.04 binary-trees source secs mem gz cpu secs Ruby #4 46.87 478,848 371 46.86 Ruby 48.73 478,976 383 48.72 Ruby #2 48.78 478,976 385 48.76 Ruby #3 50.16 515,924 407 50.14 Ruby #5 18.96 521,984 1016 53.93 Lua #2 143.45 956,672 418 143.42 Lua #3 82.25 809,984 690 164.04 Lua #4 47.92 956,672 670 178.17 Lua Lua 5.4.6 Copyright (C) 1994-2023 Lua.org, PUC-Rio Ruby ruby 3.3.0 (2023-12-25 revision 5124f9ac75) +YJIT [x86_64-linux] all Lua programs & measurements all Ruby programs & measurements