[Haskell-cafe] Performance difference between ghc and ghci

[Tillmann Rendel]

Hi,

C K Kashyap wrote:
> I missed out the optimization bit .... yes, that would make a difference.
> However beyond that is it not just about graph reduction which should be
> the same?

Even if the number of reduction steps is the same, the bytecode 
interpreter is still slower than compiled code, because it takes more 
processor cycles per reduction step. This interpretative overhead could 
be avoided, for example, using just-in-time compilation à la Smalltalk 
or Java.

   Tillmann