Simple Execution Environment (SEE) experiments

This repository has a simple test application from Joe Armstrong's Programming Erlang 2nd Edition.

Unlike every other use of Erlang and Elixir, SEE doesn't load OTP. As a result, it is about the smallest and fastest loading Erlang app possible.

To try it out, install erlang and run:

$ make
$ ./see hello
Hello, World!

Example benchmark run

Install hyperfine first and then:

$ make bench
hyperfine "/home/fhunleth/.asdf/installs/erlang/25.2/bin/erl -eval 'halt()'" "/home/fhunleth/.asdf/installs/erlang/25.2/bin/erl -boot ./see -environment '' -load hello" "python3 -c 'exit()'" "/usr/bin/ruby -e 'exit'" --warmup 20
Benchmark 1: /home/fhunleth/.asdf/installs/erlang/25.2/bin/erl -eval 'halt()'
  Time (mean  ):     265.8 ms   16.5 ms    [User: 175.5 ms, System: 83.5 ms]
  Range (min  max):   245.0 ms  299.3 ms    11 runs

Benchmark 2: /home/fhunleth/.asdf/installs/erlang/25.2/bin/erl -boot ./see -environment '' -load hello
  Time (mean  ):      52.1 ms   10.3 ms    [User: 39.0 ms, System: 38.1 ms]
  Range (min  max):    43.7 ms   73.1 ms    65 runs

  Warning: Statistical outliers were detected. Consider re-running this benchmark on a quiet PC without any interferences from other programs. It might help to use the '--warmup' or '--prepare' options.

Benchmark 3: python3 -c 'exit()'
  Time (mean  ):      24.3 ms    2.4 ms    [User: 19.7 ms, System: 4.6 ms]
  Range (min  max):    12.9 ms   28.2 ms    212 runs

  Warning: Statistical outliers were detected. Consider re-running this benchmark on a quiet PC without any interferences from other programs. It might help to use the '--warmup' or '--prepare' options.

Benchmark 4: /usr/bin/ruby -e 'exit'
  Time (mean  ):      48.6 ms    7.2 ms    [User: 39.4 ms, System: 9.2 ms]
  Range (min  max):    45.7 ms   71.8 ms    63 runs

  Warning: Statistical outliers were detected. Consider re-running this benchmark on a quiet PC without any interferences from other programs. It might help to use the '--warmup' or '--prepare' options.

Summary
  'python3 -c 'exit()'' ran
    2.00  0.36 times faster than '/usr/bin/ruby -e 'exit''
    2.14  0.47 times faster than '/home/fhunleth/.asdf/installs/erlang/25.2/bin/erl -boot ./see -environment '' -load hello'
   10.93  1.29 times faster than '/home/fhunleth/.asdf/installs/erlang/25.2/bin/erl -eval 'halt()''