Summary
This episode compares the performance of C++, regular Python, PyPy JIT, and Codon (a Python-to-native compiler) implementations of Conway's Game of Life. Jason demonstrates how Codon significantly improves Python performance but still falls short of native C++ speed, achieving around 3.5 seconds versus C++'s 0.09 seconds for 10,000 iterations. The episode highlights how optimization techniques like moving variable definitions outside loops have similar impacts across languages and reveals a critical cross-language difference in modulo behavior that affects porting algorithms.