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I’m reading a presentation in which different programming languages are being compared. And one of characteristics which is measured is ‘Language Performance’. What does it mean?
I would define language performance as meaning the performance of the best existing implementations of a language when provided with typical, idiomatic implementations of algorithms.
Some languages are much easier to write efficient implementations of than others. C, for example, has basically always been a “fast” language because it’s very close to the metal and easy to write an efficient compiler for. As performance is technically a property of the implementation, a slow language can become a fast language as implementations improve. Java, for example, was interpreted in its early versions and was considered (rightly at the time) to be a “slow” language. Since then, the JIT compilers and garbage collectors have gotten so good that Java now rightfully deserves a place among “fast” languages. This illustrates why such comparisons of language performance need to be taken with a grain of salt.