I've been pondering this question for a while now and haven't found a solid answer. It seems like people enjoy poking fun at different programming languages instead of providing real insights. I'm curious about how much the choice of programming language impacts the response times of REST APIs, considering factors like network overhead and database queries. I know there are many opinions out there, but what's the consensus?
4 Answers
Choosing a faster or better-optimized language can help cut costs for deployment, especially on lower specs. But that often requires more time and skill from the developer to make it work.
In most cases, the programming language you choose has minimal impact on REST API response times. What typically matters more is network overhead and database operation times. Even when you have complex logic, it's the implementation quality that plays a larger role than the language itself.
Different runtimes can indeed vary in performance, just like in any other application context. But in REST APIs, the network overhead usually overshadows the language speed. Still, if you're using a cloud service like AWS or Azure, a slower runtime might increase costs, so it's something to keep in mind.
There is a slight impact, but the real deciding factors include: the number of requests the API handles, the type of computations taking place between request and response, network latency dependent on server location, and the resources available to the web API. Those aspects usually weigh more significantly than the programming language choice.
Gotcha! So if my TypeScript app is under heavy load, it could be slower than a Go app, right? Or is it just a negligible difference?
So, you're saying a compiled language and an interpreted one would perform similarly, and it's mostly about how we handle database calls?