Re: Just how fast is LISP?

Simon Marlow <simonm@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk>
Thu, 21 Nov 91 13:01:25 +0000

          From comp.compilers

Related articles
Just how fast is LISP? pschmidt@convex.com (1991-11-20)
Re: Just how fast is LISP? schwartz@roke.cs.psu.edu (1991-11-20)
Re: Just how fast is LISP? barmar@think.com (1991-11-21)
Re: Just how fast is LISP? ressler@cs.cornell.edu (1991-11-21)
Re: Just how fast is LISP? tmb@ai.mit.edu (1991-11-21)
Re: Just how fast is LISP? rockwell@socrates.umd.edu (Raul Deluth Miller-Rockwell) (1991-11-21)
Re: Just how fast is LISP? hdev@ph.tn.tudelft.nl (1991-11-21)
Re: Just how fast is LISP? simonm@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk (Simon Marlow) (1991-11-21)
Re: Just how fast is LISP? barmar@think.com (1991-11-21)
Re: Just how fast is LISP? ram+@cs.cmu.edu (1991-11-23)
Re: Just how fast is LISP? varghese@cs.MENTORG.COM (1991-11-25)
| List of all articles for this month |

Newsgroups: comp.compilers
From: Simon Marlow <simonm@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk>
Keywords: Lisp, performance, design
Organization: Compilers Central
References: 91-11-080
Date: Thu, 21 Nov 91 13:01:25 +0000

I have a compiler that produces code that is is at least twice as fast as
most C compilers with all optimizations turned on. This compiler has no
builtin optimization and is ridiculously fast. Its called 'as'. But then,
who would program in assembler except to perform speed critical or very
low level tasks?


I think this situation applies to a certain extent to the speed argument
between C and LISP. In theory, a LISP compiler could produce code that is
at least as fast as a C compiler for the 'same' program, but in practice
this LISP compiler would be far more complicated and slow than the
eqivalent C compiler. This is the penalty for programming in a higher
level language, just as there is a penalty for programming in C rather
than assembler.


Another reason for the difference in speed between C and LISP is the fact
that C is tailored to the standard machine architecture, whereas most
computers built these days are simply not designed to run programs written
in LISP.




Simon Marlow (simonm@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk)
--


Post a followup to this message

Return to the comp.compilers page.
Search the comp.compilers archives again.