Swift versus Go

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
* Swift #3	8.20	32.45—32.61	13,722	1103	12.93
Go #3	8.36	33.35	3,846	975	5.31
Swift #8	34.68	34.68—34.74	13,484	470	12.33
Go #8	46.15	46.26—46.33	3,207	500	5.43
Go	12.27	49.09	4,903	906	5.41
Go #2	12.36	49.40	16,966	903	5.43
n-body
	elapsed	Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	cpu secs	mem	gz	make
* Swift #3	5.45	5.44—5.48	24,928	1688	14.75
* Swift #4	5.48	5.49	24,846	1361	13.94
* Swift #5	5.52	5.50—5.55	24,928	1372	12.83
* Swift #7	5.53	5.52	24,932	1333	13.80
Swift #6	5.82	5.81	12,956	1213	12.42
Go #3	6.39	6.41	3,191	1207	5.43
Swift #8	6.66	6.56—6.95	12,804	1285	12.85
Go	7.02	7.09—7.27	3,228	1316	5.36
Go #2	7.04	7.06	3,203	1222	5.35
Swift	7.89	7.88	12,812	1210	12.10
Go #8	9.60	9.64	3,191	1224	5.47
Swift #9	287.37	287.38—288.05	24,793	1532	13.91
spectral-norm
	elapsed	Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	cpu secs	mem	gz	make
Swift #8	5.36	5.35	24,859	411	14.09
Go #8	5.34	5.36	3,838	429	5.35
Go	5.34	5.36	4,059	417	5.35
Go #4	1.43	5.69	4,174	555	5.45
Go #2	1.51	5.70	4,317	674	5.56
Swift #3	1.45	5.71	13,689	607	12.54
mandelbrot
	elapsed	Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	cpu secs	mem	gz	make
* Swift #7	1.35	5.29	57,836	1147	14.15
* Swift #6	1.48	5.80	60,985	1147	14.36
Go #4	3.77	15.02	37,970	912	5.49
Go #3	3.78	15.03	38,101	900	5.82
Go	5.04	20.05	35,787	829	5.40
Swift #8	25.62	25.60—25.64	12,784	426	11.26
Swift	26.55	26.54	12,780	400	12.99
Go #8	26.70	26.77	3,199	500	5.39
Swift #5	7.27	27.13	49,312	665	13.83
Go #2	6.87	27.32	35,549	843	5.69
Go #6	6.91	27.48	35,119	707	5.69
* Swift #3		Bad Output
fasta
	elapsed	Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	cpu secs	mem	gz	make
Go	3.74	3.76	3,207	1055	5.36
Go #2	1.27	4.08	12,644	1405	5.51
Go #3	1.52	4.10	5,095	1362	5.29
* Swift	5.37	5.38	12,546	1533	13.34
* Swift #3	2.20	5.37	39,002	2097	14.73
* Swift #2	3.15	5.63—5.96	13,726	1952	14.91
Go #8	11.22	11.54—11.80	9,052	880	5.55
Swift #8	18.19	18.18—18.35	12,829	828	11.99
k-nucleotide
	elapsed	Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	cpu secs	mem	gz	make
Go #7	7.58	28.83—29.08	168,186	1613	5.42
Go #3	8.20	29.98—30.69	150,413	1729	5.63
Go #6	8.30	30.22—30.75	150,442	1596	5.79
Go #4	9.27	32.00—35.21	144,650	1552	5.11
* Swift #2	14.45	54.24—57.70	273,949	1373	15.39
Go #8	61.38	62.37—62.83	558,379	752	5.20
Swift #8	166.95	168.68—173.38	650,023	658	14.46
Swift #7	223.40	226.91—248.09	650,023	607	13.04
Swift		Empty
reverse-complement
	elapsed	Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	cpu secs	mem	gz	make
Go #2	2.22	2.34—2.39	822,211	614	4.79
* Swift	2.05	2.48	825,635	1293	14.28
Go #3	2.50	2.62—2.66	821,985	609	4.88
Go #6	1.93	3.46—3.52	1,277,608	1340	4.77
Go #5		Bad Output
Go		Empty
binary-trees [ Contentious. Different approaches. ]
	elapsed	Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	cpu secs	mem	gz	make
Go #6	27.93	29.32—29.66	416,195	618	5.43
Swift	18.21	54.03—54.29	763,523	720	13.97
Swift #4	17.62	54.69—59.64	733,094	772	13.31
Swift #5	18.90	56.44—56.88	764,391	813	14.89
Go #2	14.21	56.45—56.55	635,613	672	5.41
Go #3	14.90	57.97—58.17	329,499	806	5.29
Go #5	14.68	57.76—58.07	386,056	957	5.41
Swift #3	18.26	58.41—58.87	733,180	868	18.46
Swift #2	18.24	58.41—58.84	732,828	822	14.89
Go	32.05	59.81—60.00	243,114	488	5.21
Go #7	32.57	61.40—61.53	241,345	531	5.30
* Swift #9		Empty
pidigits [ Contentious. Different libraries. ]
	elapsed	Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	cpu secs	mem	gz	make
* Swift #2	0.76	0.75	14,459	606	12.50
* Go #4	0.82	0.84	6,402	689	8.17
Go	1.15	1.22—1.31	7,533	715	11.71
* Go #3	1.17	1.35—1.49	6,885	610	8.50
Go #2	1.76	1.90—2.03	7,823	740	7.70
Go #6	2.47	2.48	10,703	727	5.59
Go #7	5.00	5.65	10,527	702	6.17
regex-redux [ Contentious. Different libraries. ]
	elapsed	Mean or 95% CI
source	secs	cpu secs	mem	gz	make
Go #5	3.23	5.40—5.44	297,800	817	8.13
Go #4	14.49	35.20—35.71	349,008	832	8.44
Swift #2	39.33	39.34—39.45	710,697	678	13.66
Swift	23.92	40.23—40.37	922,243	721	13.56
Swift #4	18.21	41.75—42.40	1,102,254	751	13.30
Go #3	25.15	61.72—63.46	336,585	836	5.60
Go	25.79	61.91—62.99	301,662	749	5.85
Swift	Swift version 6.0.3 (swift-6.0.3-RELEASE) Target: x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
Go	go version go1.23.1 linux/amd64 GOAMD64=v2