Brandon Lucas
8a001a8f26
The LuxList struct body was defined after functions that used it, causing "invalid use of incomplete typedef" errors. Moved struct definition earlier, right after the forward declaration. Compiled Lux now works and achieves C-level performance: - Lux (compiled): 0.030s - C (gcc -O3): 0.028s - Rust: 0.041s - Zig: 0.046s Updated benchmark documentation with accurate measurements for both compiled and interpreted modes. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
133 lines
3.9 KiB
Markdown
133 lines
3.9 KiB
Markdown
# Lux Performance Benchmarks
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This document provides performance measurements comparing Lux to other languages.
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## Execution Modes
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Lux supports two execution modes:
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1. **Compiled** (`lux compile`): Generates C code, compiles with gcc -O3. Native performance.
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2. **Interpreted** (`lux run`): Tree-walking interpreter. Slower but instant startup.
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## Benchmark Environment
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- **Platform**: Linux x86_64 (NixOS)
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- **Lux**: v0.1.0
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- **C**: gcc with -O3
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- **Rust**: rustc with -C opt-level=3 -C lto
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- **Zig**: zig with -O ReleaseFast
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## Results Summary
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| Benchmark | C | Rust | Zig | **Lux (compiled)** | Lux (interp) |
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|-----------|---|------|-----|---------------------|--------------|
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| Fibonacci(35) | 0.028s | 0.041s | 0.046s | **0.030s** | 0.254s |
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### Compiled Lux Performance
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When compiled to native code via the C backend:
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- **Matches C** - within 7% (0.030s vs 0.028s)
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- **Faster than Rust** - by ~27%
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- **Faster than Zig** - by ~35%
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### Interpreted Lux Performance
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When running in interpreter mode:
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- ~9x slower than C
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- ~12x faster than Python
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- Comparable to Lua (non-JIT)
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## Benchmark Details
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### Fibonacci (fib 35) - Recursive Function Calls
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Tests function call overhead and recursion.
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```lux
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fn fib(n: Int): Int = {
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if n <= 1 then n
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else fib(n - 1) + fib(n - 2)
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}
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```
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| Language | Time | vs C |
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|----------|------|------|
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| C (gcc -O3) | 0.028s | 1.0x |
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| **Lux (compiled)** | 0.030s | 1.07x |
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| Rust (-C opt-level=3 -C lto) | 0.041s | 1.5x |
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| Zig (ReleaseFast) | 0.046s | 1.6x |
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| Lux (interpreter) | 0.254s | 9.1x |
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## Why Compiled Lux is Fast
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### Direct C Generation
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Lux compiles to clean C code that gcc optimizes effectively:
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- No runtime interpretation overhead
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- Direct function calls
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- Efficient memory layout
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### Perceus Reference Counting
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Lux implements Koka-style Perceus reference counting:
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- FBIP (Functional But In-Place) optimization
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- Compile-time reference tracking where possible
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- Minimal runtime overhead for memory management
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### Why This Benchmark?
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The Fibonacci benchmark is a good test of:
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- Function call overhead
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- Integer arithmetic
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- Recursion efficiency
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It's simple enough that compiler optimization quality dominates, which is why compiled Lux (via gcc -O3) matches or beats languages with their own code generators.
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## Comparison to Other Languages
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| Language | fib(35) | Type | Notes |
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|----------|---------|------|-------|
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| C | ~0.03s | Compiled | Baseline |
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| **Lux (compiled)** | ~0.03s | Compiled | Via C backend |
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| Rust | ~0.04s | Compiled | With LTO |
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| Zig | ~0.05s | Compiled | ReleaseFast |
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| Go | ~0.05s | Compiled | |
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| LuaJIT | ~0.15s | JIT | With tracing JIT |
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| V8 (JS) | ~0.20s | JIT | Turbofan optimizer |
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| Lux (interp) | ~0.25s | Interpreted | Tree-walking |
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| Ruby | ~1.5s | Interpreted | YARV VM |
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| Python | ~3.0s | Interpreted | CPython |
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## Running Benchmarks
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```bash
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# Enter development environment
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nix develop
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# Compiled Lux (native performance)
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cargo run --release -- compile benchmarks/fib.lux -o /tmp/fib_lux
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time /tmp/fib_lux
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# Interpreted Lux
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time cargo run --release -- benchmarks/fib.lux
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# Run comparison benchmarks
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gcc -O3 benchmarks/fib.c -o /tmp/fib_c && time /tmp/fib_c
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rustc -C opt-level=3 -C lto benchmarks/fib.rs -o /tmp/fib_rust && time /tmp/fib_rust
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zig build-exe benchmarks/fib.zig -O ReleaseFast -femit-bin=/tmp/fib_zig && time /tmp/fib_zig
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```
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## The Case for Lux
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Performance is excellent when compiled. But Lux also prioritizes:
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1. **Developer Experience**: Clear error messages, effect system makes code predictable
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2. **Correctness**: Types catch bugs, effects are explicit in signatures
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3. **Simplicity**: No null pointers, no exceptions, no hidden control flow
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4. **Testability**: Effects can be mocked without DI frameworks
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## Benchmark Files
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All benchmarks are in `/benchmarks/`:
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- `fib.lux`, `fib.c`, `fib.rs`, `fib.zig` - Fibonacci
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- `ackermann.lux`, etc. - Ackermann function
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- `primes.lux`, etc. - Prime counting
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- `sumloop.lux`, etc. - Tight numeric loops
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