File sizes for "hello world" in various comple-to-C and compile-to-binary languages

hello-report.txt

Default compiler settings used, unless noted otherwise. Host system is Fedora
x86_64. Linked libs produced via `ldd`.

Linked libs common to all below: linux-vdso libc ld-linux

Size    Lang                Specific libs       Common libs

 18K    c                   -                   - 
 20K    luastatic           liblua              libm libdl
 22K    vala                libgobject libglib  libffi libpcre libpthread
 27K    urweb               liburweb_http liburweb libm libcrypto libssl libpthread libz libdl
 31K    dlang (ldc2)        libphobos2-ldc-shared libdruntime-ldc-shared libm libgcc_s libc
 31K    vlang (-prod)       -                   libm libpthread libdl
 32K    ada                 libgnat             libdl libm libgcc_s
 34K    chicken             libchicken          libm libdl
 36K    kit                 -                   libm
 37K    dlang (gdc)         libgphobos          libgcc_s libm libc
 41K    C++                 -                   libstdc++ libm libgcc
 56K    ecl                 libecl              libgmp libgc libffi libpthread libdl libm libatomic_ops libgcc_s
 70K    zig (ReleaseSmall)  -                   (not dynamic)
 70K    idris               -                   libgmp libpthread libm
 83K    red                 libRedRT            linux-gate libm libpthread libgdk_pixbuf-2.0 libcurl libgtk-3 libudev libglib libgobject libgmodule libgio libpng16 libjpeg libnghttp2 libidn2 libssh libpsl libssl libcrypto libgssapi_krb5 libldap liblber libbrotlidec libz libgdk-3 libpangocairo-1.0 libpango-1.0 libharfbuzz libcairo libpangoft2-1.0 libfontconfig libfribidi libcairo-gobject libatk-1.0 libepoxy libXi libX11 libatk-bridge-2.0 libcloudproviders libtracker-sparql-3.0 libwayland-client libXfixes libcap libgcc_s libpcre2-8 libffi libmount libselinux libunistring libkrb5 libk5crypto libcom_err libkrb5support libkeyutils libresolv libevent-2.1 libsasl2 libbrotlicommon libxkbcommon libwayland-cursor libwayland-egl libXext libXcursor libXdamage libXcomposite libXrandr libXinerama libthai libfreetype libgraphite2 libXrender libxcb libxcb-render libxcb-shm libpixman-1 libxml2 libatspi libdbus-1 libjson-glib-1.0 libsqlite3 libblkid libcrypt libdatrie libbz2 libXau liblzma libsystemd libzstd liblz4
 92K    polyml              libpolyml           libstdc++ libm libgcc_s libpthread libffi libgmp libdl
175K    vlang               -                   libm libpthread libdl
177K    cakeml              -                   -
208K    mlton               -                   libm libgmp
320K    ocaml               -                   libm libdl
374K    rust                -                   libgcc_s
549K    nim                 -                   libdl
569K    zig                 -                   (not dynamic)
594K    janet               -                   libm libdl librt libpthread
840K    dlang (dmd)         -                   libpthread libm librt libdl libgcc_s
1.2M    mlton (static)      -                   (not dynamic)
1.9M    golang              -                   (not dynamic)
2.1M    chicken ("static")  -                   libm libdl
2.6M    roc                 -                   (not dynamic)
2.7M    haskell             -                   libm libgmp librt libdl libpthread
9.7M    sbcl (compressed)   -                   libdl libpthread libz libm
 12M    racket 8 (raco exe) -                   libpthread
 38M    sbcl                -                   libdl libpthread libz libm
 42M    node-pkg            -                   libdl librt libstdc++ libm libgcc_s libpthread
 45M    node-nexe           -                   libdl libstdc++ libm libgcc_s libpthread

Rustlang ? 🙂

Zig lang ?

Rustlang ? slightly_smiling_face

Added! I even had rustc installed so not sure why I didn't think to include it here. The binary is much, much bigger than I expected -- it's on par with some of the langs that bundle their own runtime. Compiled with default settings and no CLI flags so maybe I'm overlooking something. 🤷

Assembly ?

Zig lang ?

Added. Definitely the smallest of the static builds.

Assembly ?

haha. Contributions welcome. 😀

For Zig, once compiled with the -O ReleaseSmall command, it's only 5 KB (tested for windows 64)

For Zig, once compiled with the -O ReleaseSmall command, it's only 5 KB (tested for windows 64)

Awesome. Added. On my system the smaller binary is 70K. (Followed this.) If I use -target x86_64-windows it is 4.5K. That platform difference is very interesting, so I added a note about the host system at the top. Thanks!

One other interesting thing is if I use this Hello World the binary is 75K. I did use that example originally so I also updated the Zig entry for without the ReleaseSmall flag which is now also slightly smaller.

kotlin-native 1.8.21: 916K

real 5.25
user 7.22
sys 0.29

Insists on using a .kexe extension even if I do -o hello.

Compiler written in java and hence the startup penalty. Expects you to use a build tool also written in the Java/Kotlin ecosystem.
Not interested in writing the compiler itself using Kotlin Native (asked in 2021).

Linked libs: libm libpthread libgcc_s

Cool. Thanks for the addition. What system did you build those results on?

Try a D hello world

[1] ldc2 -O -release -link-defaultlib-shared -betterC app.d // using extern(C)
[2] ldc2 -O -release -link-defaultlib-shared app.d // normal

dlang.org - LDC

import std.stdio : printf;

void main()
{
    printf("Hello world");
}

vs betterC

import core.stdc.stdio;

extern(C) void main()
{
    printf("Hello world");
}

I got it to 9-10k

Very interesting. The different D compilers have pretty different file size and linked lib results. Updated. Thanks for the comment!

Very interesting. The different D compilers have pretty different file size and linked lib results. Updated. Thanks for the comment!

You're welcome 😇