OCaml versus C++ g++ 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 C++ g++ #6 3.25 19,788 1535 12.89 C++ g++ #7 13.93 19,660 1156 13.93 C++ g++ #5 7.97 19,788 987 31.14 OCaml #3 8.94 19,796 1024 35.72 OCaml #4 8.93 19,796 1018 35.73 C++ g++ #3 36.80 19,660 600 36.80 C++ g++ #4 9.47 19,660 1445 37.11 C++ g++ #2 9.82 19,656 1446 38.58 C++ g++ 10.59 19,660 1065 41.61 OCaml #2 46.91 19,668 478 46.91 OCaml 51.57 19,668 529 51.57 n-body source secs mem gz cpu secs C++ g++ #0 2.14 19,676 1933 2.14 C++ g++ #7 3.97 19,804 1815 3.97 C++ g++ #2 4.20 19,676 1884 4.19 C++ g++ #3 5.30 19,804 1402 5.30 C++ g++ #9 5.43 19,676 1536 5.43 C++ g++ #4 5.44 19,804 1434 5.44 C++ g++ #5 6.01 19,676 1544 6.00 C++ g++ 6.49 19,676 1666 6.49 C++ g++ #8 6.57 19,676 1524 6.57 OCaml 6.83 19,688 1255 6.83 C++ g++ #6 6.89 19,676 1674 6.89 spectral-norm source secs mem gz cpu secs C++ g++ #6 0.72 19,812 1050 2.84 C++ g++ #5 1.32 19,684 1050 5.25 OCaml #2 5.31 19,688 383 5.31 C++ g++ 5.36 19,684 459 5.36 C++ g++ #8 1.52 19,684 1284 6.04 mandelbrot source secs mem gz cpu secs C++ g++ 0.89 34,944 1797 3.46 C++ g++ #4 0.89 35,200 3554 3.47 C++ g++ #6 0.98 35,072 1014 3.89 C++ g++ #0 2.35 35,328 2752 9.28 C++ g++ #8 4.79 35,072 749 13.12 C++ g++ #5 13.33 34,688 596 13.33 C++ g++ #9 3.50 35,200 732 13.49 C++ g++ #7 3.49 35,072 1023 13.90 C++ g++ #2 16.90 34,560 700 16.90 C++ g++ #3 27.26 19,804 421 27.25 OCaml #6 28.68 19,688 450 28.68 OCaml 7.55 19,812 723 30.02 pidigits source secs mem gz cpu secs C++ g++ #5 0.86 19,804 804 0.86 C++ g++ #4 0.88 19,804 521 0.88 OCaml #5 2.86 19,508 465 2.86 OCaml #7 Make Error regex-redux source secs mem gz cpu secs C++ g++ #6 1.15 276,276 2856 2.18 C++ g++ #2 2.84 212,776 706 3.60 C++ g++ 3.62 212,180 662 3.62 C++ g++ #5 3.86 215,556 859 4.54 OCaml #2 13.51 922,760 644 13.51 C++ g++ #3 12.41 217,580 859 17.91 OCaml #3 Make Error C++ g++ #4 Make Error fasta source secs mem gz cpu secs C++ g++ #8 0.76 19,792 2758 1.51 C++ g++ #2 1.81 19,668 1129 1.81 C++ g++ 1.90 19,664 1064 1.90 C++ g++ #3 2.62 19,664 1311 2.62 C++ g++ #4 3.32 19,664 1291 3.32 OCaml #6 3.36 201,856 1194 3.36 C++ g++ #6 1.05 19,668 2326 3.85 C++ g++ #5 1.05 19,668 2345 3.88 OCaml #3 4.66 19,796 1075 4.66 C++ g++ #7 Make Error k-nucleotide source secs mem gz cpu secs C++ g++ #2 1.97 156,504 1634 5.87 C++ g++ #3 4.19 165,592 1280 13.77 C++ g++ 6.90 757,080 1452 14.68 OCaml #3 15.81 258,380 1839 42.53 OCaml 43.82 338,264 894 43.81 OCaml #2 26.57 314,252 1247 60.40 reverse-complement source secs mem gz cpu secs C++ g++ #2 0.70 499,840 2099 0.70 C++ g++ #6 3.20 1,517,660 1827 4.22 OCaml 2.23 19,816 1372 5.42 OCaml #3 2.28 19,816 1361 6.06 C++ g++ 6.56 980,060 599 6.56 OCaml #2 9.26 888,064 426 9.26 C++ g++ #5 35.10 771,556 704 35.10 C++ g++ #3 Bad Output binary-trees source secs mem gz cpu secs C++ g++ #7 0.95 201,400 896 3.30 C++ g++ #5 1.14 200,660 891 3.98 C++ g++ #9 1.72 135,936 815 4.46 C++ g++ #6 1.88 266,112 851 4.47 C++ g++ #3 1.88 265,600 951 4.72 C++ g++ #8 2.18 265,984 826 5.11 OCaml #5 8.18 213,760 468 8.17 C++ g++ 2.65 2,040,792 760 9.07 OCaml #2 3.42 217,384 759 9.63 C++ g++ #2 21.51 265,856 514 21.51 C++ g++ #4 Make Error OCaml OCaml native-code version 5.1.1 C++ g++ Ubuntu 13.2.0-4ubuntu3 all OCaml programs & measurements all C++ g++ programs & measurements