Created: Sat, 01 Oct 2011 00:00:00 GMT
Time to read: 3 minutes
On page 7 of Learning Python (4th ed), Mark Lutz briefly discusses the speed differences between Python and compiled languages like C++. I was curious as to how much slower an interpreted language is than a compiled language. To illustrate this, I whipped up a quick and simple program that exercises the CPU so I can see the difference — calculating 2^a-big-number, chosen at runtime, should do the trick. PHP is used in this example as another interpreted language to be compared against.
C++:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <cmath>
#include <cstdlib>
using namespace std;
int main(int argc, char* argv[]) {
printf("%lf\n", pow(2, atoi(argv[1])));
return 0;
}Python 3:
import sys
print(2 ** int(sys.argv[1]))PHP 5.3:
<?php printf('%f', pow(2, $argv[1])); ?>The Bash script to rule them all:
echo 'C++ Compile and Run:'
time { g++ 2powX.cpp -o 2powX; ./2powX $1; }
echo ''
echo 'C++ Run-only:'
time { ./2powX $1; }
echo ''
echo 'Python3:'
time { python3 2powX.py $1; }
echo ''
echo 'PHP 5.3:'
time { php 2powX.php $1; }To start the test, I just need to think of a large number (under 1024 to be fair to C++ and PHP):
./2powX.sh 1023(this will calculate 2^1023)
My output:
C++ Compile and Run:
89884656743115795386465259539451236680898848947115328636715040578866337902750481566354238661203768010560056939935696678829394884407208311246423715319737062188883946712432742638151109800623047059726541476042502884419075341171231440736956555270413618581675255342293149119973622969239858152417678164812112068608.000000
real 0m0.393s
user 0m0.051s
sys 0m0.029s
C++ Run-only:
89884656743115795386465259539451236680898848947115328636715040578866337902750481566354238661203768010560056939935696678829394884407208311246423715319737062188883946712432742638151109800623047059726541476042502884419075341171231440736956555270413618581675255342293149119973622969239858152417678164812112068608.000000
real 0m0.023s
user 0m0.007s
sys 0m0.001s
Python3:
89884656743115795386465259539451236680898848947115328636715040578866337902750481566354238661203768010560056939935696678829394884407208311246423715319737062188883946712432742638151109800623047059726541476042502884419075341171231440736956555270413618581675255342293149119973622969239858152417678164812112068608
real 0m0.297s
user 0m0.000s
sys 0m0.048s
PHP 5.3:
89884656743115795386465259539451236680898848947115328636715040578866337902750481566354238661203768010560056939935696678829394884407208311246423715319737062188883946712432742638151109800623047059726541476042502884419075341171231440736956555270413618581675255342293149119973622969239858152417678164812112068608.000000
real 0m0.158s
user 0m0.032s
sys 0m0.001sI am tossing out the “real” time since that can be affected by other processes. “User” and “sys” show time the CPU devoted to running those individual scripts. As such, the times for this one run can now be rewritten as:
C++ Compile and Run:
User + Sys: 0m0.080s
C++ Run-only:
User + Sys: 0m0.008s
Python:
User + Sys: 0m0.048s
PHP 5.3:
User + Sys: 0m0.033sSo, as can be seen the limited test above, Python is fairly whippy, but it is much slower than compiled C++ and only slightly slower than PHP. As should be expected, the clear loser is C++ when compiling and running the script.
Where Python shows its strength in this test is when I chose an exponent greater than 1023: 10230.
C++ Compile and Run:
inf
real 0m0.300s
user 0m0.031s
sys 0m0.042s
C++ Run-only:
inf
real 0m0.019s
user 0m0.005s
sys 0m0.000s
Python3:
34423548946370924386082176169924624476944747406217256894913459575909248317240966176805010055150062365680632964253221068333260790503850696894422205735464974283998737178481710847320513326190047236314022188737959298573273377572102814344914668123463409967698383046161842652734328087101543308616495804172173597443760150966561459556280381912226987600617860174561959409464229840988042610132190363959760816712340515107068363601259170162827462749834580914908129798594557386500003189308316950521690080348968238044726348143575742014074642846764730778606889774971100300380861398149094858913606975798199206609480173415963658004309039109726633755485225610220942041094784246272498178240736545885924645893162128769055657812870347841989821131743242903671864350280282225992429416035216789609308009640974003621570883792643521416611064873802839265130877016958833083099922397168644877343915843878494520657868082768244387134338616108424630943468980650164972598079418045598033655900759794230060922412992199496352809692058059391587557946774981437102060743632584473513113119693964019838269636314202681922917530324642652029487641966175702706370322376584585460708138993776570269329692750871949158552414912970025077446798138046851003712814450717667455166863392057966586288850960049888395606257059008819557399399606801132231135782721302679342447460405175159849415867946025083825979715054798665873771917391817852002180237432048544555977338839524157946665999976093796621072426879791910994074180568757224454625642236698005871493317583925305747386994569619246981512730972100283554651516588464599541520391279615376012683210012657907013238689991177931467599470681660217321117202829707966037830142127765807712314315920575387293970665233836678708372844700382542319872824604373900440287629673752417795738675580065061712084004815851934978942405039465510035530263041835571731680947077254161040170151053838823112861764994677500170596686600125442133816401312356669414594250360186893321405939078827468395808732729594844266313167495294959297094803384095616925536488530880160580375923278529891998055313008761747568315855046967664859083467206455946441917940607590639085228653276785225189773810221726842550754743851011255667524128744695091823443959124433576572372326104197569346540893424649163917453962544268485517137113038168451880755595073682103292050768360408537130764390007449122045773797009608394919316306798295728487217512556838653596654235979343724005701829082708397499442717395509370262664142587906309592105705900749680411391997494680768844358944926184889015762235955245288526033090092870443963596417673750181232848810929099290333172031916520155483111881817837853253295711864386467153079094803053093470817384183799736573767707463104819406906344594906925100612457971132594779011022054638441460108683414455611779738983530075370214072493728121365161763702953293237181723205188906292380268741274876582731547119810586813067313184416595624192660004425264601763282103986623523949088939973542755141592641945160825006847859413191687074741068848131241737183655870582681269756147276824562339232492246611538972567686798648566349824
real 0m0.291s
user 0m0.045s
sys 0m0.023s
PHP 5.3:
INF
real 0m0.173s
user 0m0.006s
sys 0m0.019sC++ and PHP return “inf” or “INF”, which means the output was too great for the number type to handle. I could have fixed that by using additional or third-party libraries (ex. “gmp” in C++ and PHP), but that wouldn’t have been fair for this test. Without having to import any special libraries, Python was itching to output any number-size calculation I wanted to throw at it. If it calculated 2^10230 in 0.068s, how long would it take to calculate 2^10230000? 2m21.530s, but I won’t print the output here since it takes 3,079,537 characters to show.
So what did I learn from this limited test? Python is slower to run than compiled C++ and just a little slower than PHP 5; however, it is also much easier to get the information I need with Python out of the gate without having to include or import additional libraries, third-party or not. Python is definitely a language I will continue to explore.
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