Programming Language and compiler
Benchmarks

C VS Nim benchmarks

Current benchmark data was generated on Mon Apr 14 2025, full log can be found HERE

CONTRIBUTIONS are WELCOME!

[x86_64][4 cores] AMD EPYC 7763 64-Core Processor (Model 1)

* -m in a file name stands for multi-threading or multi-processing

* -i in a file name stands for direct intrinsics usage. (Usage of simd intrinsics via libraries is not counted)

* -ffi in a file name stands for non-stdlib FFI usage

* (You may find time < time(user) + time(sys) for some non-parallelized programs, the overhead is from GC or JIT compiler, which are allowed to take advantage of multi-cores as that's more close to real-world scenarios.)

helloworld

Input: QwQ

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
nim 1.nim 1.1ms 0.1ms 1.5MB 0ms 0ms nim 2.2.2
c 1.c 1.1ms 0.1ms 1.3MB 0ms 0ms zigcc 0.14.0
nim 1.nim 1.1ms 0.1ms 1.9MB 0ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.2
c 1.c 1.2ms 0.1ms 2.1MB 0ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 1.c 1.2ms 0.1ms 2.1MB 0ms 0ms gcc 14.2.0

knucleotide

Input: 2500000_in

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
c 1-m.c 182ms 2.9ms 24.5MB 420ms 7ms gcc 14.2.0
c 1-m.c 291ms 5.0ms 25.9MB 980ms 17ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1

Input: 250000_in

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
c 1-m.c 28ms 2.9ms 12.1MB 63ms 0ms gcc 14.2.0
c 1-m.c 35ms 0.6ms 15.1MB 100ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1

mandelbrot

Input: 5000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
c 1-mffi.c 230ms 12ms 7.4MB 857ms 17ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 1-mffi.c 265ms 1.9ms 6.7MB 807ms 0ms gcc 14.2.0
c 1-ffi.c 330ms 1.2ms 5.9MB 320ms 0ms zigcc 0.14.0
c 1-mffi.c 330ms 0.9ms 5.9MB 320ms 0ms zigcc 0.14.0
nim 1.nim 386ms 0.2ms 4.7MB 380ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.2
c 1-ffi.c 452ms 1.5ms 6.4MB 440ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 1-ffi.c 542ms 1.6ms 6.7MB 530ms 0ms gcc 14.2.0
nim 1.nim 576ms 0.7ms 4.4MB 570ms 0ms nim 2.2.2

Input: 1000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
c 1-mffi.c 15ms 0.5ms 4.8MB 30ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 1-ffi.c 16ms 0.1ms 3.0MB 10ms 0ms zigcc 0.14.0
c 1-mffi.c 16ms 0.1ms 3.0MB 10ms 0ms zigcc 0.14.0
c 1-mffi.c 17ms 1.6ms 3.6MB 43ms 0ms gcc 14.2.0
nim 1.nim 18ms 0.2ms 1.9MB 10ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.2
c 1-ffi.c 22ms 0.3ms 3.6MB 10ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 1-ffi.c 26ms 0.9ms 3.6MB 20ms 0ms gcc 14.2.0
nim 1.nim 26ms 0.9ms 1.6MB 20ms 0ms nim 2.2.2

nbody

Input: 5000000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
c 8-i.c 267ms 0.5ms 1.5MB 260ms 0ms zigcc 0.14.0
c 8-i.c 302ms 1.0ms 2.1MB 290ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 2.c 311ms 0.4ms 2.3MB 300ms 0ms gcc 14.2.0
c 5.c 315ms 0.7ms 2.3MB 303ms 0ms gcc 14.2.0
c 2.c 315ms 1.4ms 1.5MB 310ms 0ms zigcc 0.14.0
c 5.c 315ms 0.9ms 1.5MB 307ms 0ms zigcc 0.14.0
c 5.c 318ms 3.4ms 2.1MB 310ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
nim 2.nim 319ms 0.9ms 1.8MB 310ms 0ms nim 2.2.2
c 2.c 320ms 0.6ms 2.1MB 310ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 8-i.c 334ms 0.4ms 2.3MB 323ms 0ms gcc 14.2.0
nim 2.nim 342ms 1.8ms 2.0MB 330ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.2

Input: 500000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
c 8-i.c 29ms 0.2ms 1.5MB 20ms 0ms zigcc 0.14.0
c 8-i.c 33ms 0.4ms 2.1MB 23ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 5.c 34ms 0.3ms 2.3MB 30ms 0ms gcc 14.2.0
c 5.c 34ms 0.5ms 1.5MB 27ms 0ms zigcc 0.14.0
c 2.c 34ms 0.6ms 2.3MB 27ms 0ms gcc 14.2.0
c 2.c 34ms 0.2ms 1.5MB 30ms 0ms zigcc 0.14.0
nim 2.nim 34ms 0.6ms 1.8MB 30ms 0ms nim 2.2.2
c 2.c 35ms 0.8ms 2.1MB 30ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 5.c 35ms 0.7ms 2.1MB 30ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 8-i.c 36ms 0.2ms 2.3MB 30ms 0ms gcc 14.2.0
nim 2.nim 38ms 0.5ms 2.0MB 30ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.2

nsieve

Input: 12

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
c 1.c 279ms 1.8ms 40.9MB 263ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 1.c 281ms 2.9ms 40.2MB 263ms 0ms zigcc 0.14.0
nim 1.nim 289ms 6.8ms 41.5MB 277ms 0ms nim 2.2.2
c 1.c 301ms 7.8ms 41.0MB 283ms 0ms gcc 14.2.0
nim 1.nim 329ms 8.1ms 41.8MB 317ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.2

Input: 10

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
c 1.c 52ms 2.6ms 11.8MB 40ms 0ms gcc 14.2.0
nim 1.nim 53ms 2.7ms 11.5MB 40ms 0ms nim 2.2.2
c 1.c 53ms 0.9ms 11.5MB 40ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
nim 1.nim 56ms 3.9ms 11.8MB 43ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.2
c 1.c 59ms 3.0ms 11.0MB 50ms 0ms zigcc 0.14.0

spectral-norm

Input: 8000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
c 6-im.c 963ms 12ms 2.0MB 3780ms 0ms gcc 14.2.0
c 4-m.c 965ms 1.5ms 2.0MB 3797ms 0ms gcc 14.2.0
c 6-im.c 1008ms 5.5ms 3.3MB 3950ms 3ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 5-im.c 1088ms 1.2ms 2.0MB 4290ms 0ms gcc 14.2.0
c 4-m.c 1122ms 3.5ms 3.3MB 4407ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 5-im.c 1342ms 23ms 3.3MB 5257ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 3-m.c 1834ms 11ms 3.1MB 7227ms 7ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 3-m.c 1969ms 3.6ms 2.0MB 7777ms 0ms gcc 14.2.0
nim 1.nim 3587ms 0.7ms 1.6MB 3580ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.2
nim 1.nim 3592ms 2.0ms 1.4MB 3580ms 0ms nim 2.2.2

Input: 4000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
c 6-im.c 247ms 1.3ms 2.0MB 947ms 0ms gcc 14.2.0
c 4-m.c 255ms 2.8ms 2.0MB 973ms 0ms gcc 14.2.0
c 6-im.c 269ms 18ms 3.3MB 1007ms 3ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 5-im.c 284ms 3.3ms 2.0MB 1090ms 0ms gcc 14.2.0
c 4-m.c 289ms 1.8ms 3.1MB 1103ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 5-im.c 341ms 1.0ms 3.3MB 1310ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 3-m.c 467ms 6.6ms 3.3MB 1810ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 3-m.c 497ms 0.7ms 2.0MB 1937ms 0ms gcc 14.2.0
nim 1.nim 900ms 0.9ms 1.5MB 890ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.2
nim 1.nim 902ms 2.5ms 1.3MB 890ms 0ms nim 2.2.2

Input: 2000

lang code time stddev peak-mem mem time(user) time(sys) compiler compiler/runtime
c 6-im.c 69ms 0.2ms 2.0MB 250ms 0ms gcc 14.2.0
c 4-m.c 71ms 0.4ms 2.0MB 253ms 0ms gcc 14.2.0
c 6-im.c 71ms 1.3ms 3.3MB 250ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 4-m.c 78ms 0.9ms 3.1MB 280ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 5-im.c 79ms 1.7ms 2.0MB 283ms 0ms gcc 14.2.0
c 5-im.c 91ms 0.7ms 3.0MB 330ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 3-m.c 122ms 1.0ms 3.3MB 450ms 0ms clang 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
c 3-m.c 131ms 0.8ms 2.0MB 490ms 0ms gcc 14.2.0
nim 1.nim 227ms 0.4ms 1.5MB 220ms 0ms nim/clang 2.2.2
nim 1.nim 227ms 1.0ms 1.3MB 220ms 0ms nim 2.2.2