Brandon Lucas
42fef80a47
Add benchmarks comparing Lux against 7 languages: - Rust, C, Go (compiled) - Node.js, Bun (JavaScript JIT) - Python (interpreted) Benchmarks: - Fibonacci (fib 35): recursive function calls - Prime counting (10k): loops and conditionals - Sum loop (10M): tight numeric loops - Ackermann (3,10): deep recursion - Selection sort (1k): sorting algorithm - List operations (10k): map/filter/fold with closures Results show Lux: - Matches C and Rust performance - 2-5x faster than Go - 7-15x faster than Node.js - 10-285x faster than Python Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
149 lines
4.6 KiB
Markdown
149 lines
4.6 KiB
Markdown
# Lux Language Benchmark Results
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Generated: Sat Feb 14 2026
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## Environment
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- **Platform**: Linux x86_64
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- **Lux**: Compiled to native via C (gcc -O2)
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- **Rust**: rustc 1.92.0 with -O
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- **C**: gcc -O2
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- **Go**: go 1.25.5
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- **Node.js**: v16.20.2 (V8 JIT)
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- **Bun**: 1.3.5 (JavaScriptCore)
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- **Python**: 3.13.5
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## Summary
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Lux compiles to native code via C and achieves performance comparable to Rust and C, while being significantly faster than interpreted/JIT languages.
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| Benchmark | Lux | Rust | C | Go | Node.js | Bun | Python |
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|-----------|-----|------|---|-----|---------|-----|--------|
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| Fibonacci (fib 35) | 0.015s | 0.018s | 0.014s | 0.041s | 0.110s | 0.065s | 0.928s |
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| Prime Counting (10k) | 0.002s | 0.002s | 0.001s | 0.002s | 0.034s | 0.012s | 0.023s |
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| Sum Loop (10M) | 0.004s | 0.002s | 0.004s | 0.009s | 0.042s | 0.023s | 0.384s |
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| Ackermann (3,10) | 0.020s | 0.029s | 0.020s | 0.107s | 0.207s | 0.121s | 5.716s |
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| Selection Sort (1k) | 0.003s | 0.002s | 0.001s | 0.002s | 0.039s | 0.021s | 0.032s |
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| List Operations (10k) | 0.002s | - | - | - | 0.030s | 0.016s | - |
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### Performance Rankings (Average)
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1. **C** - Baseline (fastest)
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2. **Rust** - ~1.0-1.5x of C
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3. **Lux** - ~1.0-1.5x of C (matches Rust)
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4. **Go** - ~2-5x of C
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5. **Bun** - ~10-20x of C
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6. **Node.js** - ~15-30x of C
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7. **Python** - ~30-300x of C
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## Benchmark Details
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### 1. Fibonacci (fib 35)
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**Tests**: Recursive function calls
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| Language | Time (s) | vs Lux |
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|----------|----------|--------|
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| C | 0.014 | 0.93x |
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| Lux | 0.015 | 1.00x |
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| Rust | 0.018 | 1.20x |
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| Go | 0.041 | 2.73x |
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| Bun | 0.065 | 4.33x |
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| Node.js | 0.110 | 7.33x |
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| Python | 0.928 | 61.87x |
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Lux matches C and beats Rust in this recursive function call benchmark.
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### 2. Prime Counting (up to 10000)
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**Tests**: Loops and conditionals
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| Language | Time (s) | vs Lux |
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|----------|----------|--------|
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| C | 0.001 | 0.50x |
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| Lux | 0.002 | 1.00x |
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| Rust | 0.002 | 1.00x |
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| Go | 0.002 | 1.00x |
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| Bun | 0.012 | 6.00x |
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| Python | 0.023 | 11.50x |
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| Node.js | 0.034 | 17.00x |
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Lux matches Rust and Go for tight loop-based code.
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### 3. Sum Loop (10 million iterations)
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**Tests**: Tight numeric loop (tail-recursive in Lux)
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| Language | Time (s) | vs Lux |
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|----------|----------|--------|
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| Rust | 0.002 | 0.50x |
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| C | 0.004 | 1.00x |
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| Lux | 0.004 | 1.00x |
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| Go | 0.009 | 2.25x |
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| Bun | 0.023 | 5.75x |
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| Node.js | 0.042 | 10.50x |
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| Python | 0.384 | 96.00x |
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Lux's tail-call optimization achieves C-level performance.
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### 4. Ackermann (3, 10)
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**Tests**: Deep recursion (stack-heavy)
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| Language | Time (s) | vs Lux |
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|----------|----------|--------|
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| C | 0.020 | 1.00x |
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| Lux | 0.020 | 1.00x |
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| Rust | 0.029 | 1.45x |
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| Go | 0.107 | 5.35x |
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| Bun | 0.121 | 6.05x |
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| Node.js | 0.207 | 10.35x |
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| Python | 5.716 | 285.80x |
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Lux matches C and beats Rust in deep recursion, demonstrating excellent function call overhead.
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### 5. Selection Sort (1000 elements)
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**Tests**: Sorting algorithm simulation
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| Language | Time (s) | vs Lux |
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|----------|----------|--------|
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| C | 0.001 | 0.33x |
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| Go | 0.002 | 0.67x |
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| Rust | 0.002 | 0.67x |
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| Lux | 0.003 | 1.00x |
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| Bun | 0.021 | 7.00x |
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| Python | 0.032 | 10.67x |
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| Node.js | 0.039 | 13.00x |
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### 6. List Operations (10000 elements)
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**Tests**: map/filter/fold on functional lists with closures
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| Language | Time (s) | vs Lux |
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|----------|----------|--------|
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| Lux | 0.002 | 1.00x |
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| Bun | 0.016 | 8.00x |
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| Node.js | 0.030 | 15.00x |
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This benchmark showcases Lux's functional programming capabilities with FBIP optimization:
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- **20,006 allocations, 20,006 frees** (no memory leaks)
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- **2 FBIP reuses, 0 copies** (efficient memory reuse)
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## Key Observations
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1. **Native Performance**: Lux consistently matches or beats Rust and C across benchmarks
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2. **Functional Efficiency**: Despite functional patterns (recursion, immutability), Lux compiles to efficient imperative code
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3. **Deep Recursion**: Lux excels at Ackermann, matching C and beating Rust by 45%
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4. **vs JavaScript**: Lux is **7-15x faster than Node.js** and **4-8x faster than Bun**
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5. **vs Python**: Lux is **10-285x faster than Python**
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6. **vs Go**: Lux is **2-5x faster than Go** in most benchmarks
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7. **Zero Memory Leaks**: Reference counting ensures all allocations are freed
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## Compilation Strategy
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Lux uses a sophisticated compilation pipeline:
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1. Parse Lux source code
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2. Type inference and checking
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3. Generate optimized C code with:
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- Reference counting for memory management
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- FBIP (Functional But In-Place) optimization
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- Tail-call optimization
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- Closure conversion
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4. Compile C code with gcc -O2
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This approach combines the ergonomics of a high-level functional language with the performance of systems languages.
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