Node.js versus Lua

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
Node.js #5	11.07	43.76—44.47	111,055	1320	0.14
Node.js #8	58.32	58.31	64,094	452	0.13
Lua	604.54	604.44	3,330	469	0.17
n-body
	elapsed	Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	cpu secs	mem	gz	make
Node.js #6	8.55	8.60—8.73	67,244	1274	0.11
Node.js #8	9.63	9.64—9.99	66,695	1173	0.16
Lua #2	216.21	222.12—231.65	3,269	1200	0.10
Lua #4	216.59	224.22—232.39	3,273	1312	0.18
Lua	244.50	250.36—259.88	3,273	1207	0.19
spectral-norm
	elapsed	Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	cpu secs	mem	gz	make
Node.js #7	5.40	5.40	66,163	420	0.12
Node.js	5.41	5.38—5.51	67,637	326	0.15
Node.js #6	1.60	6.03	116,212	1002	0.14
Node.js #8	6.53	6.53	66,642	355	0.14
Lua	77.63	77.91—90.12	3,568	335	0.19
mandelbrot
	elapsed	Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	cpu secs	mem	gz	make
Node.js #3	4.05	15.86—15.92	144,757	1128	0.15
Node.js #2	29.41	29.44	73,617	422	0.11
Node.js	69.02	72.84—75.47	69,100	380	0.15
Node.js #8	70.31	73.08—75.99	68,338	412	0.11
Lua #3	487.31	487.90—488.97	3,711	364	0.18
Lua	500.61	500.82—501.71	3,707	365	0.16
Lua #2	523.44	524.95—527.02	3,232	373	0.15
Lua #6	159.01	557.36—558.01	652,796	630	0.10
fasta
	elapsed	Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	cpu secs	mem	gz	make
* Node.js #5	2.56	7.10—7.15	120,930	2050	0.14
Node.js #8	18.98	19.26—19.53	74,129	742	0.13
Lua #2	24.14	24.33—26.33	3,686	1065	0.20
Lua #3	24.15	24.17—25.73	3,682	1065	0.18
Node.js	38.55	39.18—39.87	71,639	815	0.14
k-nucleotide
	elapsed	Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	cpu secs	mem	gz	make
Node.js #3	15.99	43.91—44.53	448,524	1817	0.14
Lua #2	90.52	90.72—91.24	613,040	620	0.15
Node.js #8	105.52	109.35—113.96	734,392	678	0.13
Node.js #2	35.57	110.72—113.74	1,897,566	941	0.13
Node.js	37.72	115.01—117.24	1,361,019	1011	0.13
reverse-complement
	elapsed	Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	cpu secs	mem	gz	make
* Node.js #2	15.53	16.25—16.39	763,048	1228	0.14
Lua #2	38.73	38.89—39.62	2,724,770	560	0.18
Lua #5	42.84	44.40—45.94	2,227,048	758	0.20
Lua #4	46.06	46.12—48.03	653,398	600	0.18
* Node.js #7		Bad Output
binary-trees [ Contentious. Different approaches. ]
	elapsed	Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	cpu secs	mem	gz	make
Node.js #7	16.07	28.29—28.55	1,128,059	458	0.10
Node.js #6	8.61	30.92—31.04	1,275,720	752	0.06
Node.js	8.94	33.89—34.14	1,389,228	717	0.09
Lua #2	142.32	145.28—148.96	1,043,743	418	0.13
Lua #3	82.05	164.78—165.70	1,753,616	690	0.18
Lua #4	47.56	175.72—176.19	2,055,766	670	0.16
pidigits [ Contentious. Different libraries. ]
	elapsed	Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	cpu secs	mem	gz	make
Node.js #4	1.15	1.16	71,688	487	0.14
* Lua	2.99	3.02	24,666	482	0.13
Node.js #2	12.17	12.15—12.42	102,679	405	0.10
Node.js #3	12.25	12.23—12.38	102,257	431	0.12
* Lua #7		Empty
Lua #6		Empty
* Lua #5		Empty
regex-redux [ Contentious. Different libraries. ]
	elapsed	Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	cpu secs	mem	gz	make
Lua	2.59	2.59	360,264	488	0.17
Node.js #3	4.35	5.71—5.92	840,503	675	0.12
Node.js #4	5.47	5.63—5.76	1,036,935	471	0.14
Node.js	v23.8.0
Lua	Lua 5.4.7 Copyright (C) 1994-2024 Lua.org, PUC-Rio