This paper presents an ongoing research on the behavior and performance of LISP with respect to C in the context of scientific numerical computing. Several simple image processing algorithms are used to evaluate the performance of pixel access and arithmetic operations in both languages. We demonstrate that the behavior of equivalent LISP and C code is similar with respect to the choice of data structures and types, and also to external parameters such as hardware optimization. We further demonstrate that properly typed and optimized LISP code runs as fast as the equivalent C code, or even faster in some cases.

This article reports the results of an ongoing experimental research on the behavior and performance of CLOS, the COMMON-LISP Object System. Our purpose is to evaluate the behavior and performance of the 3 most important characteristics of any dynamic object-oriented system: class instantiation, slot access and dynamic dispatch. This paper describes the results of our experiments on instantiation. We evaluate the efficiency of the instantiation process in both C++ and LISP under a combination of parameters such as slot types or classes hierarchy. We show that in a non-optimized configuration where safety is given priority on speed, the behavior of C++ and LISP instantiation can be quite different, which is also the case amongst different LISP compilers. On the other hand, we demonstrate that when compilation is tuned for speed, instantiation in LISP becomes faster than in C++.