Ruby 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
Ruby #2	154.32	593.14	23,679	1462
Lua	604.54	604.44	3,330	469	0.17
Ruby	1,437.74	1,436.24	17,695	391
Ruby #8	2,060.21	2,058.52	17,691	418
n-body
	elapsed	Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	cpu secs	mem	gz	make
Ruby #3	166.67	166.61—166.69	18,346	1169
Ruby #2	172.30	172.28—172.34	18,043	1143
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
Ruby #8	320.00	318.33	18,350	1160
Ruby #7	768.29	766.83	18,326	1139
spectral-norm
	elapsed	Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	cpu secs	mem	gz	make
Lua	77.63	77.91—90.12	3,568	335	0.19
Ruby #4	126.05	126.09—127.01	20,025	333
Ruby #8	175.57	175.87—176.32	19,132	294
Ruby #5	56.52	207.11—207.67	43,725	764
mandelbrot
	elapsed	Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	cpu secs	mem	gz	make
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
Ruby #5	143.13	566.14	118,436	978
Ruby #4	579.40	578.27	169,955	853
Ruby #2	167.51	660.80	126,730	887
Ruby #8	944.53	943.02	50,926	364
Ruby #3	1,741.44	1,739.76	50,524	313
Ruby #6		Timed Out
Ruby #7		Timed Out
fasta
	elapsed	Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	cpu secs	mem	gz	make
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
Ruby #6	34.17	34.26—34.71	119,271	1097
Ruby #3	43.78	43.86—44.10	119,243	1035
Ruby #2	82.88	83.00—83.22	143,434	747
Ruby #5	99.47	99.61—100.05	19,194	1000
Ruby #4	129.31	129.79—130.82	305,578	864
Ruby #8	188.42	188.50—189.24	17,822	700
k-nucleotide
	elapsed	Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	cpu secs	mem	gz	make
Lua #2	90.52	90.72—91.24	613,040	620	0.15
Ruby #7	243.79	246.45—258.00	399,401	792
Ruby #2	262.22	262.46—263.81	179,548	426
Ruby #3	263.08	264.95—272.82	207,466	546
Ruby	87.55	317.80	478,077	583
Ruby #8	519.31	517.57	872,055	529
reverse-complement
	elapsed	Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	cpu secs	mem	gz	make
Ruby #4	6.01	11.72—11.85	3,079,053	608
Ruby #5	13.63	13.44—14.87	1,647,829	301
Ruby #3	8.46	16.69—17.00	4,884,902	490
Ruby #2	19.54	19.56—20.02	519,827	272
Ruby	13.29	25.90—26.00	6,528,086	521
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
binary-trees [ Contentious. Different approaches. ]
	elapsed	Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	cpu secs	mem	gz	make
Ruby #4	47.09	47.06—47.17	489,144	371
Ruby #2	48.03	48.39—49.02	487,801	385
Ruby	48.14	48.56—49.08	487,592	383
Ruby #3	49.67	50.26—50.90	523,936	407
Ruby #5	18.86	53.95—54.17	2,280,051	1016
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
* Lua	2.99	3.02	24,666	482	0.13
Ruby	17.94	18.01—18.15	53,740	524
* Lua #7		Empty
Lua #6		Empty
Ruby #2		Empty
* Lua #5		Empty
Ruby #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
Ruby #2	23.42	23.49—23.62	221,233	444
Ruby #3	12.42	24.39—24.49	217,313	730
Ruby #9	30.77	30.80—30.93	221,237	340
Ruby	ruby 3.4.0dev (2024-12-25 master f450108330) +YJIT +PRISM [x86_64-linux]
Lua	Lua 5.4.7 Copyright (C) 1994-2024 Lua.org, PUC-Rio