Being compiled is why Lisp clocks in at speeds roughly the same as C or faster in many cases. While we're on that subject, take a look at "How to make Lisp go

Being compiled is why Lisp clocks in at speeds roughly the same as C or faster in many cases. While we're on that subject, take a look at "How to make Lisp go faster than C" (http://www.lrde.epita.fr/~didier/research/verna.06.imecs.pdf http://www.lrde.epita.fr/~didier/research/verna.06.imecs.pdf)