Sure it's not an apples to apples comparison - python is interpreted and go is s...

dotdi · 2025-12-11T17:06:37 1765472797

Still, you are comparing a non-empty program to an empty program.

tuhgdetzhh · 2025-12-11T19:43:37 1765482217

Even if you actually use the network module in Go, just so that the compiler wouldn't strip it away, you would still have a startup latency in Go way below 25 ms from my experience with writing CLI tools.

Whereas with Python, even in the latest version, you're already looking at atleast 10x the amount of startup latency in practice.

Note: This is excluding the actual time that is made for the network call, which can of course also add quiete some milliseconds, depending on how far on planet earth your destination is.

maccard · 2025-12-11T20:09:45 1765483785

You're missing the point. The point is that python is slow to start up _because_ it's not the same.

Compare:

    import requests
    print(requests.get("http://localhost:3000").text)

to

    package main

    import (
      "fmt"
      "io"
      "net/http"
     )

    func main() {
        resp, _ := http.Get("http://localhost:3000")
        defer resp.Body.Close()
        body, _ := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
        fmt.Println(string(body))
    }

I get:

    python3:  0.08s user 0.02s system 91% cpu 0.113 total
    go 0.00s user 0.01s system 72% cpu 0.015 total

(different hardware as I'm at home).

I wrote another that counts the lines in a file, and tested it against https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2600/pg2600.txt

I get:

    python 0.03s user 0.01s system 83% cpu 0.059 total
    go 0.00s user 0.00s system 80% cpu 0.010 total

These are toy programs, but IME that these gaps stay as your programs get bigger