[Openmcl-devel] Lisp versus 3x MacRuby or 5x Python

[Alexander Repenning]

a new speed up war appears to be happening. Some of you may have  
played with JavaScript and Safari 4. The results are really quite  
impressive. With AgentSheets we compile simulations into Java but also  
JavaScript and we begin to see the initially gigantic gap gradually  
closing.

Different projects use different approaches but by in large there is a  
combination of optimization at compile AND run time (e.g,  http://llvm.org/) 
  at work. Here are two bold articles. Does anybody dare to speculate  
how this could compare to Lisp (no run time optimization) in general   
and perhaps to CCL in particular? Could it be that 3 x MacRuby or 5 x  
Python could already outperform in academic (specInt) or real  
applications? Would it be completely absurd to contemplate a Low Level  
Virtual Machine (LLVM) based Lisp implementation?

Experimental MacRuby Branch Is 3x Faster  http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/03/29/207240
Project Aims For 5x Increase In Python Performance  http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/03/27/1934256

Alex

Prof. Alexander Repenning

University of Colorado
Computer Science Department
Boulder, CO 80309-430

vCard: http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~ralex/AlexanderRepenning.vcf