Lisp SBCL versus C gcc 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 gcc #6 2.16 19,516 1582 8.53 C gcc #4 14.20 19,516 1190 14.20 C gcc #5 6.91 19,644 917 27.13 Lisp SBCL #5 30.39 49,920 689 30.38 Lisp SBCL #3 37.50 32,768 833 37.50 Lisp SBCL #4 10.13 33,152 1531 39.42 C gcc #3 39.57 19,516 574 39.57 C gcc 42.24 19,640 514 42.24 C gcc #2 11.16 19,644 1563 43.66 Lisp SBCL #2 49.10 19,668 525 49.09 n-body source secs mem gz cpu secs C gcc #9 2.10 19,520 1639 2.10 C gcc #8 3.70 19,520 1398 3.69 C gcc #4 4.30 19,520 1496 4.30 C gcc #6 4.96 19,520 1186 4.96 C gcc 5.18 19,520 1179 5.18 C gcc #2 5.18 19,520 1270 5.18 C gcc #3 5.24 19,520 1214 5.24 C gcc #5 5.41 19,648 1436 5.41 C gcc #7 6.81 19,520 1250 6.81 Lisp SBCL #2 7.81 19,816 1408 7.81 Lisp SBCL 9.26 19,816 1373 9.26 spectral-norm source secs mem gz cpu secs C gcc #6 0.41 19,760 1203 1.61 C gcc #5 0.72 19,520 576 2.84 C gcc #7 0.73 19,520 906 2.84 C gcc #4 0.72 19,520 1145 2.84 Lisp SBCL #6 5.32 20,736 512 5.32 Lisp SBCL 5.32 19,816 639 5.32 C gcc 5.39 19,520 390 5.39 Lisp SBCL #3 1.45 19,688 893 5.45 Lisp SBCL #8 1.45 19,688 799 5.46 Lisp SBCL #7 1.44 19,816 769 5.46 Lisp SBCL #2 1.46 19,816 920 5.46 C gcc #3 1.43 19,520 470 5.68 C gcc #8 Make Error mandelbrot source secs mem gz cpu secs C gcc #6 1.28 33,280 1141 5.11 C gcc #8 1.63 33,536 788 6.30 C gcc #4 3.48 33,152 805 13.85 C gcc 3.49 32,896 828 13.88 C gcc #7 3.49 33,152 1000 13.89 C gcc #3 3.54 32,768 769 14.07 C gcc #9 4.22 33,280 700 16.30 Lisp SBCL 4.75 50,944 2478 16.49 Lisp SBCL #4 4.18 42,752 2453 16.60 C gcc #2 24.97 19,520 412 24.97 Lisp SBCL #3 9.70 50,048 900 25.95 pidigits source secs mem gz cpu secs C gcc #2 0.81 19,520 422 0.81 C gcc 0.88 19,520 459 0.88 Lisp SBCL #4 3.37 429,312 495 3.37 Lisp SBCL #3 3.38 434,560 499 3.38 Lisp SBCL #2 6.01 429,816 655 6.01 regex-redux source secs mem gz cpu secs C gcc #5 0.80 152,388 1403 2.03 C gcc #2 3.23 103,296 1121 3.23 C gcc #4 0.96 152,256 1237 3.27 C gcc #3 1.72 103,680 1273 3.29 Lisp SBCL #4 14.08 994,024 1977 29.33 fasta source secs mem gz cpu secs C gcc #9 0.78 19,520 1469 0.78 C gcc #5 1.24 19,520 1286 1.24 C gcc #6 0.93 19,648 1936 2.73 C gcc #8 2.79 19,520 1299 2.79 C gcc #4 3.02 19,520 1244 3.02 C gcc #2 0.83 19,520 2270 3.26 C gcc #7 0.85 19,648 2018 3.29 C gcc 3.74 19,520 1209 3.73 Lisp SBCL #6 4.42 19,668 1763 4.42 C gcc #3 4.49 19,520 825 4.48 Lisp SBCL #3 5.82 19,796 1592 5.82 Lisp SBCL 9.24 21,760 1430 9.24 Lisp SBCL #2 9.25 19,668 1628 9.25 k-nucleotide source secs mem gz cpu secs C gcc 3.80 130,432 1512 12.64 Lisp SBCL #4 16.70 156,288 2292 16.70 Lisp SBCL #5 16.83 156,416 2323 16.83 Lisp SBCL #6 10.97 541,312 2485 40.13 Lisp SBCL 12.76 550,784 2431 41.85 Lisp SBCL #3 51.99 558,208 1297 51.99 Lisp SBCL #2 53.23 558,208 1291 53.23 reverse-complement source secs mem gz cpu secs C gcc #7 0.43 499,872 1899 0.58 C gcc #8 0.50 499,872 1551 0.86 C gcc #6 0.96 703,064 828 1.37 C gcc #5 1.50 994,176 654 1.50 C gcc #2 1.05 994,432 757 1.55 C gcc #4 3.66 500,480 716 3.66 Lisp SBCL 5.35 1,517,184 911 5.34 Lisp SBCL #2 Failed binary-trees source secs mem gz cpu secs C gcc #2 1.51 169,088 816 4.17 C gcc #3 1.89 134,400 842 4.59 Lisp SBCL #3 3.30 476,572 938 7.64 Lisp SBCL 9.68 461,412 595 9.68 C gcc 20.83 264,192 660 20.83 C gcc #5 8.27 351,232 914 30.31 Lisp SBCL SBCL 2.4.2 C gcc 13.2.0-4ubuntu3 all Lisp SBCL programs & measurements all C gcc programs & measurements