2007-06-08

I have always enjoyed fractals, and was curious if scripting languages were up to the task. I wrote a very simple Mandelbrot set generator for my test. Rather than optimizing for each language, I tried to write each program in approximately the same way in each language to make a reasonable performance comparison.

Here are the results from running on my 867 mhz Powerbook G4. Shorter is better. Please note, the following benchmarks are not scientific, and were simply done to satisfy my curiosity. Your mileage may vary.

Feel free to send me ports to any other languages. The program should print the time in seconds that elapsed at the bottom in the form of 'Elapsed %0.2f'. If you can, include instructions for building on MacOS X.

— Erik Wrenholt (erik -at- timestretch.com) 2005-09-20

2012-02-07 — Fractal Benchmark Extended: Theo Wollenleben has added many more language ports and benchmarks!

2007-06-08 — I enabled optimization in C. 'gcc -O3 Mandelbrot.c -o Mandelbrot.'

2007-06-04 — I added a compiled OCAml version. Faster than both C and SBCL!

2007-06-02 — I updated the C version to utilize doubles instead of floats. Most scripting languages use doubles behind-the-scenes so this results in a more accurate comparision.

I updated Python to 2.5.1. Much faster!

I also began including speed relative to the fastest language.

2007-06-02 — I fixed up the Java, Ruby, Lua, Io, PHP, and Applescript versions. They were calculating one extra row and column (less than or equal to 39 rather than just less than). It turns out this didn't affect performance that much because those columns are over a low-iteration area.

I also starting running each language four times and averaging the time elapsed in order to make the results more consistent.

2007-05-28 — I added a SBCL Lisp version. Unfortunately, SBCL triggers a crash report on MacOS X every time I invoke it. SBCL's actual performance may vary slightly from the results shown.

2007-05-27 — I added a Ghostscript Postscript version.

2007-05-26 — I added an OCaml and Javascript (Using Mozilla's SpiderMonkey 1.6). I also removed the 'slow' TCL version and left the optimized one. After adding curly brackets around expressions, it increased the speed by 25 times.

2007-04-26 — I added an Applescript version.

2007-04-24 — Just for fun, I'm including optimized versions that don't change the character of the code (e.g. no loop unrolling). I received both Perl and TCL optimized versions and have included them in the benchmark. It's interesting to see how minor changes can drastically improve the performance of these scripts. If you notice something glaringly inefficient in one of the examples below, let me know.

2007-04-03 — I temporarily removed the Haskell version while I learn how to get it to print 'Elapsed <seconds>'. Anders Bergh ported the scripts on this page to D, C#. When I am able to run them from the command line, I'll add them to this page. Also pending are a Javascript, and a CL version.

Benchmark Generated on 2007-06-08 21:11:16

C gcc-4.0.1

// by Erik Wrenholt #include <stdio.h> #include <sys/time.h> #define BAILOUT 16 #define MAX_ITERATIONS 1000 int mandelbrot(double x, double y) { double cr = y - 0.5; double ci = x; double zi = 0.0; double zr = 0.0; int i = 0; while(1) { i ++; double temp = zr * zi; double zr2 = zr * zr; double zi2 = zi * zi; zr = zr2 - zi2 + cr; zi = temp + temp + ci; if (zi2 + zr2 > BAILOUT) return i; if (i > MAX_ITERATIONS) return 0; } } int main (int argc, const char * argv[]) { struct timeval aTv; gettimeofday(&aTv, NULL); long init_time = aTv.tv_sec; long init_usec = aTv.tv_usec; int x,y; for (y = -39; y < 39; y++) { printf("

"); for (x = -39; x < 39; x++) { int i = mandelbrot(x/40.0, y/40.0); if (i==0) printf("*"); else printf(" "); } } printf ("

"); gettimeofday(&aTv,NULL); double query_time = (aTv.tv_sec - init_time) + (double)(aTv.tv_usec - init_usec)/1000000.0; printf ("C Elapsed %0.2f

", query_time); return 0; }

Java 1.4.2

// by Erik Wrenholt import java.util.*; class Mandelbrot { static int BAILOUT = 16; static int MAX_ITERATIONS = 1000; private static int iterate(float x, float y) { float cr = y-0.5f; float ci = x; float zi = 0.0f; float zr = 0.0f; int i = 0; while (true) { i++; float temp = zr * zi; float zr2 = zr * zr; float zi2 = zi * zi; zr = zr2 - zi2 + cr; zi = temp + temp + ci; if (zi2 + zr2 > BAILOUT) return i; if (i > MAX_ITERATIONS) return 0; } } public static void main(String args[]) { Date d1 = new Date(); int x,y; for (y = -39; y < 39; y++) { System.out.print("

"); for (x = -39; x < 39; x++) { if (iterate(x/40.0f,y/40.0f) == 0) System.out.print("*"); else System.out.print(" "); } } Date d2 = new Date(); long diff = d2.getTime() - d1.getTime(); System.out.println("

Java Elapsed " + diff/1000.0f); } }

Io 20070410 Vector

#!/usr/local/bin/io # Vectorized by Steve Dekorte printSet := method( bailout := 16 max_iterations := 1000 cr := Vector clone ci := Vector clone i := 0 for(y, -39, 38, for(x, -39, 38, cr atPut(i, y/40.0 - 0.5) ci atPut(i, (x/40.0)) i = i + 1 ) ) size := cr size zi := Vector clone setSize(size) zr := Vector clone setSize(size) zr2 := Vector clone setSize(size) zi2 := Vector clone setSize(size) temp := Vector clone setSize(size) for(i, 1, max_iterations, temp copy(zr) *= zi zr2 copy(zr) square zi2 copy(zi) square zr copy(zr2) -= zi2 zr += cr zi copy(temp) *= 2 zi += ci ) result := zi2 + zr2 i := 0 for(y, -39, 38, writeln for(x, -39, 38, r := result at(i) write(if( r > 0, "*", " ")) i = i + 1 ) ) ) writeln("

Io Elapsed " .. Date secondsToRun(printSet))

Lua 5.1

#!/usr/local/bin/lua -- By Erik Wrenholt local BAILOUT = 16 local MAX_ITERATIONS = 1000 function iterate(x,y) local cr = y-0.5 local ci = x local zi = 0.0 local zr = 0.0 local i = 0 while 1 do i = i+1 local temp = zr * zi local zr2 = zr*zr local zi2 = zi*zi zr = zr2-zi2+cr zi = temp+temp+ci if (zi2+zr2 > BAILOUT) then return i end if (i > MAX_ITERATIONS) then return 0 end end end function mandelbrot() local t = os.time() for y = -39, 38 do for x = -39, 38 do if (iterate(x/40.0, y/40) == 0) then io.write("*") else io.write(" ") end end io.write("

") end io.write(string.format("Time Elapsed %d

", os.time() - t)) end mandelbrot()

ocaml compiled 3.09.2

(* Courtesy of pango on #ocaml *) let bailout = 16. let max_iterations = 1000 let mandelbrot x y = let cr = y -. 0.5 in let ci = x in let zi = ref 0.0 in let zr = ref 0.0 in let i = ref 0 in let continue = ref true in let result = ref 0 in while !continue do incr i; let temp = !zr *. !zi in let zr2 = !zr *. !zr in let zi2 = !zi *. !zi in zr := zr2 -. zi2 +. cr; zi := temp +. temp +. ci; if zi2 +. zr2 > bailout then begin result := !i; continue := false; end else if !i > max_iterations then continue := false; done; !result let () = let start_time = Unix.gettimeofday () in for y = -39 to 38 do print_newline (); for x = -39 to 38 do let i = mandelbrot (float x /. 40.) (float y /. 40.) in print_char (if i = 0 then '*' else ' '); done done; print_newline (); let stop_time = Unix.gettimeofday () in let query_time = stop_time -. start_time in Printf.printf "OCaml Elapsed %0.2f

" query_time

ocaml bytecode 3.09.2

#!/opt/local/bin/ocamlrun ocaml unix.cma (* Courtesy of pango on #ocaml *) let bailout = 16. let max_iterations = 1000 let mandelbrot x y = let cr = y -. 0.5 in let ci = x in let zi = ref 0.0 in let zr = ref 0.0 in let i = ref 0 in let continue = ref true in let result = ref 0 in while !continue do incr i; let temp = !zr *. !zi in let zr2 = !zr *. !zr in let zi2 = !zi *. !zi in zr := zr2 -. zi2 +. cr; zi := temp +. temp +. ci; if zi2 +. zr2 > bailout then begin result := !i; continue := false; end else if !i > max_iterations then continue := false; done; !result let () = let start_time = Unix.gettimeofday () in for y = -39 to 38 do print_newline (); for x = -39 to 38 do let i = mandelbrot (float x /. 40.) (float y /. 40.) in print_char (if i = 0 then '*' else ' '); done done; print_newline (); let stop_time = Unix.gettimeofday () in let query_time = stop_time -. start_time in Printf.printf "OCaml Elapsed %0.2f

" query_time

Python 2.5.1

#!/usr/local/bin/python # by Daniel Rosengren import sys, time stdout = sys.stdout BAILOUT = 16 MAX_ITERATIONS = 1000 class Iterator: def __init__(self): print 'Rendering...' for y in range(-39, 39): stdout.write('

') for x in range(-39, 39): i = self.mandelbrot(x/40.0, y/40.0) if i == 0: stdout.write('*') else: stdout.write(' ') def mandelbrot(self, x, y): cr = y - 0.5 ci = x zi = 0.0 zr = 0.0 i = 0 while True: i += 1 temp = zr * zi zr2 = zr * zr zi2 = zi * zi zr = zr2 - zi2 + cr zi = temp + temp + ci if zi2 + zr2 > BAILOUT: return i if i > MAX_ITERATIONS: return 0 t = time.time() Iterator() print '

Python Elapsed %.02f' % (time.time() - t)

Ghostscript 8.51

%!PS %% frac.ps by Jeff Zaroyko %% a transliteration of the program by Erik Wrenholt %% at http://www.timestretch.com/FractalBenchmark.html /star {(*) print } bind def /space { ( ) print } bind def realtime pop /BAILOUT 16 def /MAX_ITERATIONS 1000 def /mandelbrot { %% mx my /mx exch def /my exch def /cr my 0.5 sub def /ci mx def /zi 0.0 def /zr 0.0 def /i 0 def { /i i 1 add def /temp zr zi mul def /zr2 zr zr mul def /zi2 zi zi mul def /zr zr2 zi2 sub cr add def /zi temp temp add ci add def zi2 zr2 add BAILOUT gt { i exit } if i MAX_ITERATIONS gt { 0 exit } if } loop } bind def % main /y -39 def { y 39 lt { /y y 1 add def (

) print /x -39 def { x 39 lt { /x x 1 add def y 40.0 div x 40.0 div mandelbrot 0 eq { star } { space } ifelse } { exit } ifelse } loop } { exit }ifelse % Done. } loop realtime dup log ceiling cvi string cvs (

Total time Elapsed ) print print (ms

) print quit

Perl 5.8.6 Optimized

#!/usr/bin/perl # Ported from C to Perl by Anders Bergh <anders1@gmail.com> # Some Perlification by John Gabriele (4-24-2007). use strict; use warnings; use Time::HiRes qw( gettimeofday ); my $BAILOUT = 16; my $MAX_ITERATIONS = 1000; my $begin = gettimeofday(); sub mandelbrot { my ( $x, $y ) = @_; my $cr = $y - 0.5; my $ci = $x; my ( $zi, $zr ) = ( 0.0, 0.0 ); my $i = 0; my ( $temp, $zr2, $zi2 ); while ( 1 ) { $i += 1; $temp = $zr * $zi; $zr2 = $zr * $zr; $zi2 = $zi * $zi; $zr = $zr2 - $zi2 + $cr; $zi = $temp + $temp + $ci; if ( $zi2 + $zr2 > $BAILOUT ) { return $i; } if ( $i > $MAX_ITERATIONS ) { return 0; } } } for ( my $y = -39; $y < 39; $y++ ) { print( "

" ); my $i; for ( my $x = -39; $x < 39; $x++ ) { $i = mandelbrot( $x / 40.0, $y / 40.0 ); if ( $i == 0 ) { print q{*}; } else { print q{ }; } } } print "

"; my $end = gettimeofday() - $begin; print "Perl Elapsed $end

";

Perl 5.8.6

#!/usr/bin/perl # Ported from C to Perl by Anders Bergh <anders1@gmail.com> # $BAILOUT=16; $MAX_ITERATIONS=1000; $begin = time(); sub mandelbrot { local $x = $_[0]; local $y = $_[1]; local $cr = $y - 0.5; local $ci = $x; local $zi = 0.0; local $zr = 0.0; local $i = 0; while (1) { $i = $i + 1; local $temp = $zr * $zi; local $zr2 = $zr * $zr; local $zi2 = $zi * $zi; $zr = $zr2 - $zi2 + $cr; $zi = $temp + $temp + $ci; if ($zi2 + $zr2 > $BAILOUT) { return $i; } if ($i > $MAX_ITERATIONS) { return 0; } } } for ($y = -39; $y < 39; $y++) { print("

"); for ($x = -39; $x < 39; $x++) { $i = mandelbrot($x/40.0, $y/40.0); if ($i == 0) { print("*"); } else { print(" "); } } } print("

"); $end = time() - $begin; print "Perl Elapsed $end

";

PHP 5.1.4

#!/usr/local/php5/bin/php <?php define("BAILOUT",16); define("MAX_ITERATIONS",1000); class Mandelbrot { function Mandelbrot() { $d1 = microtime(1); for ($y = -39; $y < 39; $y++) { echo("

"); for ($x = -39; $x < 39; $x++) { if ($this->iterate($x/40.0,$y/40.0) == 0) echo("*"); else echo(" "); } } $d2 = microtime(1); $diff = $d2 - $d1; printf("

PHP Elapsed %0.2f", $diff); } function iterate($x,$y) { $cr = $y-0.5; $ci = $x; $zi = 0.0; $zr = 0.0; $i = 0; while (true) { $i++; $temp = $zr * $zi; $zr2 = $zr * $zr; $zi2 = $zi * $zi; $zr = $zr2 - $zi2 + $cr; $zi = $temp + $temp + $ci; if ($zi2 + $zr2 > BAILOUT) return $i; if ($i > MAX_ITERATIONS) return 0; } } } $m = new Mandelbrot(); ?>

Ruby 1.8.4

#!/usr/local/bin/ruby BAILOUT = 16 MAX_ITERATIONS = 1000 class Mandelbrot def initialize puts "Rendering" for y in -39...39 do puts for x in -39...39 do i = iterate(x/40.0,y/40.0) if (i == 0) print "*" else print " " end end end end def iterate(x,y) cr = y-0.5 ci = x zi = 0.0 zr = 0.0 i = 0 while(1) i += 1 temp = zr * zi zr2 = zr * zr zi2 = zi * zi zr = zr2 - zi2 + cr zi = temp + temp + ci return i if (zi2 + zr2 > BAILOUT) return 0 if (i > MAX_ITERATIONS) end end end time = Time.now Mandelbrot.new puts puts "Ruby Elapsed %f" % (Time.now - time)

Javascript SpiderMonkey v1.6

#!/usr/local/bin/js /* Javascript version by Patrick Haller.*/ function mandelbrot(x, y) { var cr = y - 0.5; var ci = x; var zi = 0.0; var zr = 0.0; var i = 0; var BAILOUT = 16; var MAX_ITERATIONS = 1000; while(1) { i++; var temp = zr * zi; var zr2 = zr * zr; var zi2 = zi * zi; zr = zr2 - zi2 + cr; zi = temp + temp + ci; if (zi2 + zr2 > BAILOUT) { return i; } if (i > MAX_ITERATIONS) { return 0; } } } function mandelbrot_run() { var x; var y; output = ""; var date = new Date(); for (y = -39; y < 39; y++) { print(output); output = ""; for (x = -39; x < 39; x++) { var i = mandelbrot(x/40.0, y/40.0); if (i==0) { output += "*"; } else { output += " "; } } } var date2 = new Date(); output += "

JavaScript Elapsed " + (date2.getTime() - date.getTime()) / 1000; print(output); return false; } mandelbrot_run();

TCL 8.4 Optimized

#!/usr/bin/tclsh # Optimized Version by Samuel Zafrany # Ported from C by Anders Bergh <anders1@gmail.com> package require Tcl 8.4 set BAILOUT 16 set MAX_ITERATIONS 1000 proc mandelbrot {x y} { global BAILOUT global MAX_ITERATIONS set cr [expr {$y - 0.5}] set ci $x set zi 0.0 set zr 0.0 set i 0 while {1} { incr i set temp [expr {$zr * $zi}] set zr2 [expr {$zr * $zr}] set zi2 [expr {$zi * $zi}] set zr [expr {$zr2 - $zi2 + $cr}] set zi [expr {$temp + $temp + $ci}] if {$zi2 + $zr2 > $BAILOUT} { return $i } if {$i > $MAX_ITERATIONS} { return 0 } } } set begin [clock clicks -milliseconds] for {set y -39} {$y < 39} {incr y} { puts "" for {set x -39} {$x < 39} {incr x} { set i [mandelbrot [expr {$x / 40.0}] [expr {$y / 40.0}]] if {$i == 0} { puts -nonewline "*" } else { puts -nonewline " " } flush stdout } } puts "" set diff [expr [clock clicks -milliseconds] - $begin] #puts "Tcl Elapsed [expr int($diff / 1000)] seconds ($diff ms)" puts "Tcl Elapsed [expr int($diff / 1000)]"

Emacs Lisp

; By Erik Wrenholt ; emacs -l Mandelbrot.lisp -batch (defun iterate (xx yy) (let* ( (BAILOUT 16.0) (MAX_ITERATIONS 1000) (bail_val 0) (cr (- yy 0.5)) (ci xx) (zi 0.0) (zr 0.0) (i 0) ) (while (and (< i MAX_ITERATIONS) (< bail_val BAILOUT)) (setq i (+ 1 i)) (setq temp (* zr zi)) (setq zr2 (* zr zr)) (setq zi2 (* zi zi)) (setq zr (+ (- zr2 zi2) cr)) (setq zi (+ temp temp ci)) (setq bail_val (+ zi2 zr2))) i) ) (defun mandelbrot() (setq yy -39) (while (< yy 39) (setq yy (+ 1 yy)) (setq xx -39) (while (< xx 39) (setq xx (+ 1 xx)) (if (= (iterate (/ xx 40.0) (/ yy 40.0)) 1000) (princ "*") (princ " ") ) ) (princ "

") )) (setq the-time (cadr (current-time))) (mandelbrot) (princ (format "Elapsed %d" (- (cadr (current-time)) the-time)))

Applescript

(* Applescript Version by Erik Wrenholt I couldn't figure out how to write to stdout so it buffers the output until the end. *) on unixTime() (do shell script "date +%s") as integer end unixTime on iterate(x, y) set BAILOUT to 16 set MAX_ITERATIONS to 1000 set cr to y - 0.5 set ci to x set zi to 0.0 set zr to 0.0 set i to 0 repeat while i < MAX_ITERATIONS set i to i + 1 set temp to zr * zi set zr2 to zr * zr set zi2 to zi * zi set zr to zr2 - zi2 + cr set zi to temp + temp + ci if zi2 + zr2 > BAILOUT then return i end if end repeat return 0 end iterate set t to unixTime() set mandelbrotString to "" set nl to (ASCII character 10) repeat with y from -39 to 38 by 1 set mandelbrotString to mandelbrotString & nl repeat with x from -39 to 38 by 1 if iterate(x / 40.0, y / 40.0) = 0 then set mandelbrotString to mandelbrotString & "*" else set mandelbrotString to mandelbrotString & " " end if end repeat end repeat set elapsed to unixTime() - t mandelbrotString & nl & "Time Elapsed " & elapsed

Io 20070410

#!/usr/local/bin/IoServer # by Erik Wrenholt iterator := Object clone do ( bailout := 16 max_iterations := 1000 mandelbrot := method (x,y, cr := y - 0.5 ci := x zi := 0.0 zr := 0.0 i := 0 while (1, i = i + 1 temp := zr * zi zr2 := zr * zr zi2 := zi * zi zr := zr2 - zi2 + cr zi := temp + temp +ci if (zi2 + zr2 > bailout, return i) if (i > max_iterations, return 0) ) ) print_set := method ( writeln("Rendering...") for(y, -39, 38, write("

") for(x, -39, 38, i := mandelbrot(x/40.0,y/40.0) if (i == 0, write("*"),write(" ")) ) ) ) ) writeln writeln ("Io Elapsed " .. Date secondsToRun(iterator print_set))

SBCL 1.0.2