Lisp SBCL versus C++ g++ 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. fannkuch-redux source secs mem gz busy cpu load Lisp SBCL 12.06 33,044 1527 47.21 95% 99% 98% 99% C++ g++ 10.71 1,708 980 42.33 100% 96% 100% 100% spectral-norm source secs mem gz busy cpu load Lisp SBCL 4.00 19,808 890 15.78 98% 99% 99% 99% C++ g++ 1.99 2,408 1044 7.89 99% 99% 99% 99% binary-trees source secs mem gz busy cpu load Lisp SBCL 11.41 321,692 932 24.35 53% 73% 42% 45% C++ g++ 3.96 113,236 809 12.86 74% 84% 98% 69% n-body source secs mem gz busy cpu load Lisp SBCL 26.19 17,660 1403 26.35 91% 9% 0% 0% C++ g++ 7.70 1,612 1879 7.81 100% 0% 1% 1% k-nucleotide source secs mem gz busy cpu load Lisp SBCL 16.10 538,172 2479 57.76 98% 88% 86% 86% C++ g++ 3.88 156,164 1631 12.09 72% 92% 71% 77% mandelbrot source secs mem gz busy cpu load Lisp SBCL 6.66 46,768 2447 26.53 99% 99% 100% 99% C++ g++ 1.51 26,256 1791 6.01 100% 99% 99% 99% fasta source secs mem gz busy cpu load Lisp SBCL 7.09 17,724 1757 7.18 1% 1% 88% 12% C++ g++ 1.46 2,024 2711 4.40 75% 76% 75% 76% reverse-complement source secs mem gz busy cpu load Lisp SBCL 11.42 1,390,812 904 11.59 1% 1% 49% 51% C++ g++ 1.89 499,672 2093 1.94 100% 2% 1% 1% pidigits source secs mem gz busy cpu load Lisp SBCL 12.37 131,624 493 12.55 0% 0% 37% 63% C++ g++ 1.82 4,312 513 1.87 1% 1% 2% 100% regex-redux source secs mem gz busy cpu load Lisp SBCL Failed C++ g++ 1.86 203,856 1315 4.49 99% 50% 48% 44% Lisp SBCL SBCL 2.0.4 C++ g++ g++ (Ubuntu 9.3.0-10ubuntu2) 9.3.0 all Lisp SBCL programs & measurements all C++ g++ programs & measurements