When ignoring memory usage and only focusing on
speed, Java placed ahead of Perl in
The Great Language Shootout
however, when memory usage was factored in, then
Perl placed quite high in general and above Java.
What I found interesting is that although functional
languages are considered only research vehicles
and not useful for real programs, the language
Objective CAML
has not a few feathers in its cap which might turn a few heads:
- It is faster than C++ and only slower than C in the same independent tests
- It took both first and second place in
the 2000 International Functional Programming Competition
and first place in
the 1999 contest.