Comparison of Programming Languages in Bioinformatics
Author Information
Author(s): Fourment Mathieu, Gillings Michael R
Primary Institution: Macquarie University
Hypothesis
How do different programming languages compare in terms of memory usage and execution speed for bioinformatics algorithms?
Conclusion
C and C++ are the fastest programming languages for bioinformatics tasks, while Perl and Python are slower but easier to code.
Supporting Evidence
- C and C++ were the fastest languages tested.
- Perl was three times faster than Python for I/O operations.
- Java and C# provided a balance between speed and ease of coding.
- Memory usage was significantly higher for semi-compiled languages like Java and C#.
Takeaway
This study looked at how fast different programming languages can run bioinformatics tasks. It found that C and C++ are the best for speed, while Perl and Python are easier to use.
Methodology
The study compared memory usage and execution speed of bioinformatics algorithms implemented in six programming languages across two operating systems.
Limitations
The benchmark involved a limited number of analysis types and may not represent all bioinformatics tasks.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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