Re: Just how fast is LISP?

pschmidt@convex.com (Perry Schmidt) writes:
>[**Note: I can't find the source for the quote, but I remember reading
>some AI book claiming that LISP is as fast or faster than traditional
>prog. langs. in math intensive programs.


It depends on which Lisp version you use and of course what you try to
compute. Some Lisp version support arbitrary length integer arithmetic.
The routines for it are implemented in assembler and you can hardly do
better in a conventional language.


As a matter of fact my Lisp-interpreter runs much faster when the program
uses huge integers, than the same compiled programs in C with a C integer
package using the standard methods. Even supplying a faster package in C
would not necessarely mean that the C-version is faster. Even C is slower
than assembler.


But of course, this is the reason why Lisp is faster in many occasions
than conventional languages: several time-consuming operations you have to
program in conventional languages, are already implemented in assembler.
So you are not comparing the speed of Lisp and C but of the combinations
(Lisp & assembler) and (C & assembler).
--
Hans de Vreught
hdev@dutiaa.tudelft.nl
Delft University of Technology (TWI-ThI)
The Netherlands
--

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