more-similar less-idiosyncratic

When programs are idiomatic someone will say they are not comparable.

Are they similar-enough to be comparable for your purposes? Will someone then say the programs are not idiomatic.

If only more-idiomatic was not less-comparable!

Here are a few naive un-optimised single-thread #8 programs transliterated lowest-common-denominator style into different programming languages from the same original —

elapsed secs / fastest		insignificant io
×	source
1.0	Intel C	spectral-norm
1.0	Swift	fannkuch-redux
1.0	C gcc	n-body
1.0	C clang	n-body
1.0	C clang	fannkuch-redux
1.1	Intel C	n-body
1.1	C gcc	fannkuch-redux
1.2	Swift	n-body
1.2	Intel C	fannkuch-redux
1.3	C# aot	n-body
1.3	C# aot	fannkuch-redux
1.3	Java	fannkuch-redux
1.3	Go	fannkuch-redux
1.4	Dart	n-body
1.4	Java	n-body
1.7	Node.js	fannkuch-redux
1.7	Node.js	n-body
1.7	Go	n-body
2.0	C# aot	spectral-norm
2.0	Swift	spectral-norm
2.0	Go	spectral-norm
2.0	Dart	fannkuch-redux
2.0	C gcc	spectral-norm
2.0	C clang	spectral-norm
2.0	Java	spectral-norm
2.4	Node.js	spectral-norm
4.1	Dart	spectral-norm
20	Java -Xint	fannkuch-redux
29	Java -Xint	n-body
30	Java -Xint	spectral-norm
44	PHP	n-body
49	PHP	fannkuch-redux
51	PHP	spectral-norm
56	Ruby yjit	fannkuch-redux
63	Ruby yjit	spectral-norm
64	Python 3	fannkuch-redux
70	Ruby yjit	n-body
94	Python 3	n-body
142	Python 3	spectral-norm
586	Matz's Ruby	n-body
626	Matz's Ruby	spectral-norm

Seemingly similar programs behave differently when the language implementations behave differently. Do they have the same default stdio buffering? Do the programs need to be written differently and run differently to make them behave the same.

To be less similar so they are more comparable!

elapsed secs / fastest		significant io
×	source
1.0	Intel C	fasta
1.0	Intel C	mandelbrot
1.0	C# aot	k-nucleotide
1.0	C gcc	mandelbrot
1.1	C clang	mandelbrot
1.1	C# aot	mandelbrot
1.1	Swift	mandelbrot
1.1	Java	k-nucleotide
1.1	PHP	k-nucleotide
1.1	C clang	fasta
1.1	C gcc	fasta
1.1	Go	mandelbrot
1.2	Java	mandelbrot
1.5	C# aot	fasta
2.4	Java	fasta
2.5	Swift	k-nucleotide
2.7	Go	fasta
3.0	Node.js	mandelbrot
3.3	Python 3	k-nucleotide
4.4	Node.js	fasta
4.5	Swift	fasta
7.6	Dart	k-nucleotide
8.4	Dart	mandelbrot
8.6	Dart	fasta
11	Ruby yjit	k-nucleotide
12	PHP	fasta
18	PHP	mandelbrot
26	Java -Xint	mandelbrot
37	Python 3	fasta
45	Ruby yjit	fasta
63	Ruby yjit	mandelbrot
64	Python 3	mandelbrot
78	Java -Xint	fasta
187	Matz's Ruby	fasta

Such comparisons raise a nest of issues all their own: for example, is it really the same program when written in the two compared languages? (Will Partain, 1992.)

elapsed secs / fastest		Geometric Mean
1.1	Intel C
1.2	C clang
1.2	C gcc
1.3	C# aot
1.5	Java
1.7	Go
1.7	Swift
2.5	Node.js
4.3	Dart
17	PHP
32	Java -Xint
43	Python 3
44	Ruby yjit
410	Matz's Ruby