Oleg posts on comp.lang.scheme about a benchmark comparing the performance of an XML parser written in Scheme and one written in C. The benchmark and source code are discussed on a SSAX benchmarking page
The scheme XML parser is SSAX and the C parser was Expat. SSAX is completely written in Scheme in a functional style and is referentially transparent. There is not a single assignment in SSAX to be seen.
The result of the benchmark is that the SSAX parser was measurably faster than Expat. Hopefully this will help dispel the commonly held belief that Lisp is slow - or functional programs are slower than C programs.
1:49:45 AM 
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