compare performance of Clojure, Ruby, and Python interpreters

.gitignore

venv
.cpcache

README.md

Performance comparison of Clojure, Ruby, and Python

Clojure

clj -M perf.clj

Ruby

ruby perf.rb

Python

python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
python perf.py

See also

• Ruby factorial
• Python factorial
• Clojure factorial

deps.edn

{:deps {org.clojure/clojure {:mvn/version "1.12.0"}
        criterium/criterium {:mvn/version "0.4.6"}}}

factorial.pyx

def factorial_cy(int n):
    cdef int i, ret
    ret = 1
    for i in range(n):
        ret *= n
    return ret

perf.clj

(require '[criterium.core :refer :all])
(require '[clojure.core.reducers])

; Clojure 1.12.0

(defmacro mybench [expr] `(do (println (quote ~expr)) (bench ~expr :verbose) (println)))

(defn factorial [n] (if (zero? n) 1 (*' n (factorial (dec n)))))

(mybench (factorial 20)) ;; 103.764688 ns
(mybench (factorial 100)) ;; 3148.385 ns

(defn factorial2 [n] (loop [result 1N n n] (if (zero? n) result (recur (*' result n) (dec n)))))

(mybench (factorial2 20)) ;; 163.587616 ns
(mybench (factorial2 100)) ;; 3434.398 ns

(defn factorial3 [n] (reduce *' (range 1 (inc n))))

(mybench (factorial3 20)) ;; 115.571203 ns
(mybench (factorial3 100)) ;; 2592.425 ns

(defn factorial4 [n] (clojure.core.reducers/fold (quot n 2) *' *' (vec (range 1 (inc n)))))

(mybench (factorial4 20)) ;; 6210.996 ns
(mybench (factorial4 100)) ;; 16056.733 ns

(defn factorial6 [n] (apply *' (range 1 (inc n))))

(mybench (factorial6 20)) ;; 178.077568 ns
(mybench (factorial6 100)) ;; 2624.756 ns

(set! *unchecked-math* true)

(defn factorial7 [^long n] (if (zero? n) 1 (* n (factorial7 (dec n)))))

(mybench (factorial7 20)) ;; 44.387036 ns

(set! *unchecked-math* false)

(defmacro factorial-macro [n]
  `(fn [] (*' ~@(range 1 (inc n)))))

(mybench (factorial-macro 20)) ;; 0.523264 ns
(mybench (factorial-macro 100)) ;; 3.701550 ns

perf.py

import sys
import pyperf
import math
from functools import reduce
import operator
import pyximport
pyximport.install()
from factorial import factorial_cy


# Python 3.13.1

runner = pyperf.Runner()


def factorial(n):
    if n == 0:
        return 1
    else:
        return n * factorial(n - 1)


runner.bench_func("factorial(20)", factorial, 20)  # 957 ns
runner.bench_func("factorial(20)", factorial, 100)  # 5520 ns


def factorial2(n):
    result = 1
    while n > 0:
        result *= n
        n -= 1
    return result


runner.bench_func("factorial2(20)", factorial2, 20)  # 717 ns
runner.bench_func("factorial2(100)", factorial2, 100)  # 4430 ns


def factorial3(n):
    return reduce(operator.mul, range(1, n + 1))


runner.bench_func("factorial3(20)", factorial3, 20)  # 718 ns
runner.bench_func("factorial3(100)", factorial3, 100)  # 3790 ns


runner.bench_func("math.factorial(20)", math.factorial, 20)  # 45.4 ns
runner.bench_func("math.factorial(100)", math.factorial, 100)  # 599 ns

runner.bench_func("factorial_cy(20)", factorial_cy, 20)  # 41.6 ns

perf.rb

require 'benchmark'
require 'inline'

# Ruby 3.4.1

n1 = 10_000_000
n2 = 1_000_000

def factorial n
  return 1 if n <= 1
  n * factorial(n - 1)
end

Benchmark.bmbm do |x|
  x.report("factorial 20") { n1.times { factorial(20) } }  # 538.3613 ns
  x.report("factorial 100") { n2.times { factorial(100) } }  # 27191.377 ns
end

def factorial2 n
  result = 1
  while n.positive?
    result *= n
    n -= 1
  end
  result
end

Benchmark.bmbm do |x|
  x.report("factorial2 20") { n1.times { factorial2(20) } }  # 665.1937 ns
  x.report("factorial2 100") { n2.times { factorial2(100) } }  # 32426.857 ns
end

def factorial3 n
  1.upto(n).reduce :*
end

Benchmark.bmbm do |x|
  x.report("factorial3 20") { n1.times { factorial3(20) } } # 1511.7478 ns
  x.report("factorial3 100") { n2.times { factorial3(100) } }  # 28851.488 ns
end

class Factorial
  inline do |builder|
    builder.c "
        long factorial(int max) {
          int i=max, result=1;
          while (i >= 2) { result *= i--; }
          return result;
        }"
  end
end

f = Factorial.new
Benchmark.bmbm do |x|
  x.report("f.factorial 20") { n1.times { f.factorial(20) } }  # 538.3613 ns
end

requirements.txt

Cython==3.0.11
numpy==2.0.2
psutil==6.1.1
pyperf==2.8.1