Ruby versus Matz's Ruby fastest programs Always look at the source code. These are only the fastest programs. Look at the other programs. They may seem more-like a fair comparison to you. n-body source secs mem gz busy cpu load Ruby 253.50 25,232 1137 258.38 1% 1% 0% 100% Matz's Ruby 2,293.99 3,952 1137 4,696.44 78% 12% 75% 40% fasta source secs mem gz busy cpu load Ruby 31.29 122,852 1069 34.96 2% 4% 5% 100% Matz's Ruby 253.47 101,720 1071 256.95 1% 100% 0% 0% binary-trees source secs mem gz busy cpu load Ruby 60.99 875,584 364 63.56 96% 4% 3% 1% Matz's Ruby 310.83 1,413,528 1096 984.39 72% 73% 71% 100% spectral-norm source secs mem gz busy cpu load Ruby 113.92 25,196 326 115.91 1% 0% 1% 100% Matz's Ruby 411.31 4,400 292 825.97 0% 100% 10% 90% fannkuch-redux source secs mem gz busy cpu load Ruby 1,255.50 25,200 384 1,263.51 100% 0% 0% 0% Matz's Ruby 3,599.05 16,720 1444 13,876.93 95% 94% 100% 97% k-nucleotide source secs mem gz busy cpu load Ruby 72.19 400,272 859 265.83 100% 88% 95% 86% Matz's Ruby 179.62 126,924 644 589.76 95% 69% 67% 98% reverse-complement source secs mem gz busy cpu load Ruby 10.58 2,009,736 517 20.20 50% 13% 96% 32% Matz's Ruby 21.41 492,788 264 43.01 1% 100% 0% 100% regex-redux source secs mem gz busy cpu load Ruby 9.72 332,016 724 21.17 39% 94% 45% 39% Matz's Ruby 16.43 221,312 724 48.13 100% 100% 47% 47% mandelbrot source secs mem gz busy cpu load Ruby 259.25 72,264 931 1,014.80 97% 97% 100% 97% Matz's Ruby 133.76 33,612 918 513.86 96% 96% 96% 96% pidigits source secs mem gz busy cpu load Ruby 2.01 437,692 485 4.06 49% 10% 100% 42% Matz's Ruby Failed Ruby ruby 3.0.0preview1 (2020-09-25 master 0096d2b895) [x86_64-linux] --jit Matz's Ruby ruby 1.8.7 (2008-08-11 patchlevel 72) [x86_64-linux] So old that I haven't been able to get rubygems to work no backport, no gmp all Ruby programs & measurements all Matz's Ruby programs & measurements