FAQ

1. What is the purpose of Clean?

The purpose of Clean is to serve as a non-strict, purely functional programming language with the following advantages over similar functional programming languages:

• Efficient running-time of compiled code: Clean is one of the fastest functional programming languages. For many applications, Clean is appreciably faster than Haskell, and at least on par with OCaml. In particular, according to at least one user, Clean code can be easier to optimize than Haskell code (see Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish - Haskell's Performance | …on Coding | Algorithm.com.au for a discussion of this point).
  • For benchmarks, see the following:
    • Clean benchmarks | Gentoo : Intel® Pentium® 4 Computer Language Benchmarks Game (vs. Haskell GHC)
    • Clean benchmarks | Gentoo : Intel® Pentium® 4 Computer Language Benchmarks Game (vs. OCaml)
  • For discussions on how Clean optimizes its code vs. Haskell, see the following:
    • Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish - Haskell's Performance | …on Coding | Algorithm.com.au
    • Nabble - Haskell - Haskell-Cafe - Why can't Haskell be faster?