Interesting results from a benchmark comparing Visual C++ vs. gcc, Java against .NET languages, and Python:
| int math |
long math |
double math |
trig |
I/O |
TOTAL |
|
| Visual C++ | 9.6 | 18.8 | 6.4 | 3.5 | 10.5 | 48.8 |
| Visual C# | 9.7 | 23.9 | 17.7 | 4.1 | 9.9 | 65.3 |
| gcc C | 9.8 | 28.8 | 9.5 | 14.9 | 10.0 | 73.0 |
| Visual Basic | 9.8 | 23.7 | 17.7 | 4.1 | 30.7 | 85.9 |
| Visual J# | 9.6 | 23.9 | 17.5 | 4.2 | 35.1 | 90.4 |
| Java 1.3.1 | 14.5 | 29.6 | 19.0 | 22.1 | 12.3 | 97.6 |
| Java 1.4.2 | 9.3 | 20.2 | 6.5 | 57.1 | 10.1 | 103.1 |
| Python/Psyco | 29.7 | 615.4 | 100.4 | 13.1 | 10.5 | 769.1 |
| Python | 322.4 | 891.9 | 405.7 | 47.1 | 11.9 | 1679.0 |
.NET languages performed surprisingly well although I have my doubts about the benchmark. For example, why would C# I/O perform better than VB I/O?
BTW, I heard that there will be a benchmark contest between CPython and Parrot at this year's O'Reilly's Open Source Convention. I think Parrot will win by a mile. Why? Because CPython performance is well known where Parrot's performance is not. Why would the Parrot team enter a benchmark contest they know they will lose?
Update:
I updated the link to the benchmark to point to the paginated version. Apparently, the printable version is not meant to be linked to directly.
Don Park's Weekly Habit 